Perhaps the Sharks will play a much more complete game Tuesday when they face the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena. Their bodies will be more accustomed to the Eastern Time Zone and they’ll be back on a somewhat normal sleep cycle.
That’s the Sharks’ hope, anyway. Otherwise, Sunday’s wild 8-5 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins could prove to be just another example of a team that has lost its way on the defensive end.
The Sharks allowed six even-strength goals in a disastrous first period at PPG Paints Arena. The Sharks rallied with four unanswered goals after they were down 6-1 and almost completed the unlikely comeback before the Penguins scored twice in the final 2:01 of regulation time.
Goalie James Reimer allowed all six of Pittsburgh’s even-strength goals in the first period before he was pulled in favor of backup Zach Sawchenko. But this goes deeper than just the performance of the goalie, as the Sharks have now allowed 16 even-strength goals over the last four games.
“Obviously, (Reimer) had a tough night in the first period, but I don’t think we helped him at all,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. “I thought that we were very loose in a defensive zone and spent way too much time down there.”
The Sharks (17-15-1) allowed seven goals, including five at even strength, in an 8-7 shootout win over the Arizona Coyotes, a result that was chalked up to not having played in 12 days. San Jose bounced back with a 3-2 overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.
Can the Sharks correct the same defensive woes now?
“You score five goals on the road, you should at least come up with a point,” Boughner said. ”I think that speaks to a couple of things on our side.”
Evan Rodrigues and Bryan Rust each had a hat trick for the Penguins, who were playing their first game since Dec. 19. Rodrigues’ first two goals came in the opening 4:11, and the Penguins led 6-1 by the 19:32 mark of the third period on Rust’s second goal.
Sunday’s game was the Sharks’ second without Mario Ferraro, the do-everything defenseman now in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
“They capitalized on 70-80 percent of the chances that they got,” Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson said, “and we gave them a lot.”
Some other takeaways from Sunday’s loss.
TOUGH CIRCUMSTANCES: Karlsson didn’t want to offer excuses but he noted the challenges of flying across the country, then playing an afternoon game against an elite team the following day at a time when the Sharks – by their own body clocks – are usually just getting ready for practice.
The Sharks have flown to the East Coast this season and played the next night. They also played an early afternoon game in October. But before Sunday, they’d never flown across the country and played an afternoon game this season within 24 hours.
“You ask anyone that flies cross country and then plays a 1 p.m. Eastern Time game — 10 a.m. for us – the next day against the Pittsburgh Penguins, this can happen, and it did,” Karlsson said. “There are no excuses and that’s not necessarily the entire reason for (the loss). But we weren’t there, we weren’t ready.”
Boughner felt the Sharks got better as Sunday’s game went on, but wasn’t buying the travel/schedule defense.
“There’s really no excuse,” Boughner said. “You can talk about travel, time change, all this other stuff. At the end of the day, we played on Thursday night, practiced Friday and we flew yesterday, so we should have had plenty of rest.”
SAWCHENKO’S STORY: Sawchenko made a decision nearly five years ago to leave a good Moose Jaw team in the WHL as a 19-year-old to begin life as a student-athlete at the University of Alberta.
It was an unorthodox decision given that Canadian university hockey is not necessarily seen as a gateway to the professional ranks. Still, Sawchenko wanted to pursue an education, and after two stellar years in university, got a chance to turn pro in 2019 by signing an AHL contract with the Barracuda.
Sawchenko played well enough the last two seasons to earn a two-year contract from the Sharks in April.
That all led to Sunday, as Sawchenko got the word between the first and second periods that he would be taking over for Reimer and making his NHL debut.
“I took a very unique way to get here and it’s special,” Sawchenko said. “I know when I made decisions earlier in my career, people were questioning me. I kind of always had that belief in myself knowing if I keep working hard and keep doing the right things, I’ll be able to reach that goal.
“To make it here, it’s overwhelming, but it’s pretty cool.”
Sawchenko stopped the first 19 shots he faced, giving the Sharks a chance to score four unanswered goals to cut what had been a five-goal deficit down to one by the 4:09 mark of the third period.
“The guys wanted to play for (Sawchenko). We didn’t play for (Reimer),” Sharks captain Logan Couture said. “Didn’t want to do that to (Sawchenko). Proud of the way we battled back, but the first period was obviously not acceptable.”