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The San Jose Sharks fell short against the Boston Bruins last night, losing 4-2.
The Sharks found themselves down right away, as Brad Marchand took the puck up ice on a solo effort from his own zone and cut around about three different players to head towards the net, before backhanding a shot past James Reimer. Then just afterwards, the Sharks had a power play but after they couldn’t convert, Craig Smith got a chance from a good spot and he scored, putting the Bruins up 2-0 only a little more than five minutes into the game.
San Jose did respond soon after, with Alexander Barabanov finding Logan Couture with a great pass for a deflection, cutting the lead to one. The Sharks were still outshot 12-6 in the frame though, and Boston came extremely close to regaining the two-goal lead in the last couple minutes of the period, only to be stopped on a diving paddle save by James Reimer.
The Sharks actually built a lot of momentum midway through the second period though and kept the same set of Bruins skaters on the ice for several minutes, eventually resulting in a bench minor for Boston as they tried to make an illegal change. While San Jose couldn’t capitalize on the man advantage (or another one that came shortly after), just as the teams got back to even strength, Mario Ferraro sent a puck on net from the point and it went in off a defender in front, tying the game. However, the Bruins ended up with a power play of their own soon after and David Pastrnak picked a corner to put Boston right back ahead.
The Sharks had to kill off a penalty to start the third period and while it looked like Hampus Lindholm scored to extend the lead, the goal was overturned on a coach’s challenge for offside. However, Boston managed to extend the lead for real a little later, as Patrice Bergeron got a pass over to David Pastrnak at the side of the net, who scored to make it a 4-2 game. San Jose did end up with a power play later in the period but couldn’t convert and despite a last-second chance off a faceoff for Logan Couture to try to keep Erik Karlsson’s point streak alive, Linus Ullmark came up with a big save, and the Bruins held on for the 4-2 win.
The loss meant the Sharks dropped both games of their back-to-back set, and have won just one of six games since the holiday break. It’s not like they haven’t been competitive in most of them, and even last night, they did put together a pretty strong back 40 minutes to make it interesting.
Special teams were a killer for San Jose as well though, going 0-for-4 on the power play, while giving up a goal on the Bruins' man advantage.
It also marked the end of Erik Karlsson’s 14-game point streak (despite getting 30 minutes of ice time), which was one of the few interesting storylines surrounding the team right now. It marks the first time since late November that Karlsson failed to register a point in a game and he was just three games shy of tying the NHL record for longest assist streak by a defenseman. Regardless, he remains the Sharks’ best player so far this season and one of the bright spots.
The Sharks will return to action on Tuesday, when they face the Arizona Coyotes.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM DECEMBER
Sharks overcome two-goal deficit to defeat Blackhawks
Sharks reportedly trying to accommodate Ryan Merkley's trade request
Sharks blow early lead, suffer OT loss to Ducks 
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