The San Jose Sharks fell behind by two goals by the midway point of the second period and never fully recovered in a 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on Wednesday at American Airlines Center.
With the game tied 1-1, the Sharks were on their heels and allowed a goal to Stars forward Wyatt Johnston just 56 seconds into the second period.
Exactly 10 minutes later, the Stars took advantage of a Sharks turnover in their own end, and after the puck came to Dallas forward Logan Stankoven, he slid a pass past Cody Ceci right to Jamie Benn, who beat San Jose goalie Mackenzie Blackwood for a 3-1 lead.
Blackwood finished with 26 saves, Jake Walman scored and Mikael Granlund had a goal and an assist scored for the Sharks, who lost in regulation time for just the second time in six games.
Granlund’s assist on Walman’s goal at the 13:25 mark of the third period, which cut Dallas’ lead to 3-2, was the 400th assist of his NHL career.
The Sharks play the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Thursday, then return home to play the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday to begin a four-game homestand.
The Sharks will have a ceremony Saturday afternoon to officially retire Joe Thornton’s No. 19, which will be raised to the rafters at SAP Center. The event will begin at 2:30 p.m., with the game against the Sabres starting at 5 p.m.
On Thursday, the Sharks took three penalties in the first period against the Stars but were still tied 1-1 with Dallas after 20 minutes.
Less than two minutes after allowing an even-strength goal to Jason Robertson at the 15:33 mark of the first period, Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun was called for high-sticking Dallas captain Jamie Benn.
But with the puck inside their own zone, the Sharks forced a Stars turnover. William Eklund then chipped the puck ahead to a streaking Granlund, who fought off a check from Dallas forward Roope Hintz and beat goalie Jake Oettinger with a backhand to forehand move for his ninth goal of the season at the 18:44 mark.
It was just the second shorthanded goal of the season for the Sharks, as it extended Granlund’s point streak to three games and Eklund’s point streak to five games.
Attention now turns to Thursday’s game in St. Louis, where rookie goalie Yaroslav Askarov might play his first game in a Sharks uniform. Askarov backed up Blackwood on Wednesday for the second straight game, as Vitek Vanecek, who is also on the road trip, remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Warsofsky wouldn’t say who would start against the Blues. But it would be unusual to start the same goalie on back-to-back nights on the road, and it wouldn’t seem prudent to play Vanecek if he wasn’t 100% healthy.
Although nothing is official, that would seem to leave Askarov as the Sharks’ top option in St. Louis.
“Vitek’s day-to-day here,” Warsofsky said, “and we’ll play it as we go.”
