The Sharks probably deserved a better fate than the one they were dealt Saturday night against the Dallas Stars.
But despite creating a handful of quality scoring chances and playing an even game while 5-on-5, the Sharks once again couldn’t find the extra goal they needed in a 2-1 loss to the Stars at American Airlines Center.
Sharks winger Timo Meier scored his 33rd goal of the season at the 19:23 mark of the second period to cut the Dallas lead to 2-1. But the Sharks couldn’t overcome a first-period, even-strength goal by Tyler Seguin and a short-handed marker by Michael Raffl, as they lost their ninth straight game.
Five of the nine losses on this streak have been by one goal.
Kaapo Kahkonen made 24 saves for the Sharks, and his counterpart, Dallas’ Jake Oettinger, made 23 saves, including six in the third period.
The last time the Sharks lost more than eight games in a row was over 16 years ago when they went 0-7-3 from Nov. 5-30, 2005. Joe Thornton was acquired on the final day of the losing streak, joined the team for its next game in Buffalo and the Sharks began a six-game win streak to resurrect their season.
The Sharks had an eight-game losing streak last season, going 0-7-1 in April in the shortened 56-game season to fall out of the playoff race.
The Sharks fell to 0-5-3 since March 26 with a 5-4 shootout loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.
The Sharks dressed seven rookies Saturday as they were hit with a rash of injuries in Thursday’s game with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Defensemen Erik Karlsson and Radim Simek have both returned to San Jose for further evaluation. Karlsson aggravated an existing lower-body injury and Simek was hurt late in the first period after he hit Chicago forward Philipp Kurashev.
Winger Alexander Barabanov, fifth on the Sharks with 37 points in 65 games, was also injured Thursday but has remained with the team, which is flying to Minneapolis late Saturday night.
As a result of the injuries, the Sharks only had 12 forwards and six defensemen available for Saturday’s game. Seven of those players were rookies, including their entire fourth line of Scott Reedy, Jeffrey Viel, and Jasper Weatherby, who was called up from the Barracuda on Friday.
First-year NHL player Jonathan Dahlen, who was a healthy scratch Thursday, started Saturday’s game on a line with Meier and Tomas Hertl.
The Sharks will likely have another rookie in Sunday’s lineup as the team announced Saturday that center Thomas Bordeleau had signed a three-year, entry-level contract. Bordeleau joined the Barracuda on an amateur tryout on Tuesday and played his first AHL game on Wednesday, where he had three assists in a San Jose loss to Bakersfield.
