SAN JOSE, Calif. – Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson reached another career milestone Sunday night in what has so far been a record-setting season for the two-time Norris Trophy winner.
But outside of Karlsson’s assist on a Timo Meier first-period power-play goal, the Sharks weren’t able to create much offense — particularly at even strength — in what degenerated into a 5-2 loss to the Calgary Flames at SAP Center.
The Sharks allowed goals to Tyler Toffoli and Milan Lucic to fall behind 2-1 after two periods, then allowed three goals on four shots in the first 2:10 of the third as they had their modest four-game point streak snapped.
Center Elias Lindholm scored two goals in the first 35 seconds of the third period, with the first coming at the 16-second mark on a Flames power play, 10 seconds after Tomas Hertl was called for high-sticking.
Lindholm’s second goal came shortly after the Sharks lost a faceoff in their own end.
“Took a bad penalty and then lost some coverage on the d-zone (faceoff), and it’s 4-1,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “It changed quickly because we felt pretty good about the way the game was going. The second period was a pretty even period and in just a blink of an eye, it’s 4-1.”
Sharks goalie Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 15 of 17 shots through two periods and finished with 20 saves as his record this season fell to 3-7-2.
Kahkonen misplayed a Nazem Kadri dump-in, leading to a Dillon Dube goal at the 17:50 mark of the third period that gave the Flames a 5-1 lead.
Kahkonen’s last start came Dec. 7 at home against Vancouver when he was pulled after allowing four goals on 19 shots in the first two periods. He spent the last week working on his skating and being in the proper place on his feet.
“I thought I was able to execute those things I’ve been working on and I thought I saw the puck pretty well,” Kahkonen said. “Obviously, not a great result but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Quinn said he felt bad for Kahkonen.
“I thought he had a good night. He looked like himself,” Quinn said. “Obviously he’d like to have the fifth one back but I thought he played well.”
Sharks winger Jonah Gadjovich and Flames defenseman Dennis Gilbert dropped the gloves for a spirited fight at the 11:09 mark of the second period. Gadjovich landed a right hand on Gilbert that kept him out the rest of the game.
Hertl added a power-play goal at the 7:56 mark of the third period, but the result was an obvious regression for a Sharks team that believed it was starting to turn a corner.
The Sharks had gone 2-0-2 with a pair of wins over Anaheim and Arizona, an overtime loss to Vancouver, and a shootout loss Saturday night to Los Angeles. But Sunday marked the fourth time in seven games the Sharks have allowed five goals or more.
The Sharks and Flames play again Tuesday in San Jose.
“No disrespect, but playing L.A. and Calgary is different than playing Anaheim and Arizona,” Karlsson said. “We want to compare ourselves to other teams around the league. Today wasn’t up to par and neither (was) yesterday.”
Karlsson scored his 700th career NHL point in the first period.
Five seconds after forward Adam Ruzicka was called for tripping, Hertl won a faceoff in the Flames end back to Karlsson. He quickly found Meier near the side of the Flames’ net, and Meier fired the puck past goalie Jacob Markstrom at the 11:11 mark to tie the game 1-1.
The assist was Karlsson’s 28th of the season as he became the 27th defenseman in the 105-year history of the NHL to reach 700 points. He also assisted on Hertl’s goal, giving him 41 points through 33 games, the fastest he’s reached 41 points in his 13-year NHL career.
Playing in his 871st career game Sunday, Karlsson became the 12th fastest defenceman to hit 700 points. With his assists, Karlsson extended his point streak to seven games, in which he has one goal and eight helpers.
Kahkonen entered Sunday with a .877 save percentage in 12 games. His last two games have been forgettable at best, as he stopped a combined 49 of 58 shots in recent Sharks losses to Ottawa and Vancouver.
Against the Canucks on Dec. 7, Kahkonen stopped 15 of 19 shots through two periods before he was pulled in favor of rookie Eetu Makiniemi. The Sharks would go on to lose 6-5 in overtime.
“He’s done a really good job in the last week in practice, getting better,” Quinn said before Sunday’s game. “He’s had some good nights and it’s consistency with him. We’ve seen him play some really good games and he’s going to get there. We’ve got a lot of faith in him.”
Toffoli’s goal at the 7:13 mark of the first period came after defenseman Jaycob Megna fanned on an attempted pass to Nico Sturm. Toffoli picked off the pass and went in alone on Kahkonen, beating him to the glove side.
It was the type of turnover reminiscent of earlier in the Sharks’ season when costly miscues were a near-nightly occurrence. The Sharks felt they had taken steps to eradicate that from their game.
“I don’t think we were as mentally as sharp as we were physically earlier,” Quinn said of the Sharks’ puck management. “It comes back to forcing plays, and it’s not going to change overnight. We took a couple of steps forward the last three games and we took a step back tonight.
“As I’ve said before, bad habits are hard to break. So keep chipping away.”
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