The San Jose Sharks continue to be vexed by the expansion Seattle Kraken.
The Sharks allowed even two strength goals to Carson Soucy and one to Calle Jarnkrok and couldn’t fully take advantage of multiple power-play opportunities in the second and third periods in a 3-2 loss to the Kraken on Thursday in their first visit to Climate Pledge Arena.
Timo Meier, three days after he scored five goals, scored a power-play goal at the 9:37 mark of the third period to cut Seattle’s lead to 3-2. But the Sharks finished the game 1-for-6 with the man advantage in what was an overall frustrating night from an offensive standpoint.
Tomas Hertl also scored for the Sharks, beating Philipp Grubauer just 38 seconds into the first period off a nice pass from Alexander Barabanov. But the Sharks missed a handful of other chances to beat Grubauer in what was a bitter way to end the first half of the season.
Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson hit the post once in the first period on a shot that would have extended the lead, and hit the post two more times on a second-period power play. Meier, coming off his record-setting performance Monday in the Sharks’ 6-2 win over Los Angeles, was also denied by Grubauer on a second period breakaway.
With the loss, the Sharks closed the first half of the season with a 21-18-2 record.
San Jose has already equaled its win total through 56 games last season and has victories over playoff-caliber teams like Calgary, Toronto, Carolina, and Minnesota. But the Sharks also have two losses to the Kraken, which entered Thursday 29th in the NHL’s 32-team overall standings. San Jose lost to Seattle 3-1 on Dec. 14.
The Sharks’ schedule now gets exponentially more difficult, as they play the Tampa Bay Lightning twice and the Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers, and Carolina Hurricanes once before
Sharks goalie Adin Hill finished with 16 saves as Soucy’s goals came at 4:18 and 8:25 of the second period and Jarnkrok scored at the 6:27 mark of the third period for a 3-1 Kraken lead.
Hill started for the sixth time in the last seven games as his game has been trending in the right direction over the last two weeks.
Beginning with his start Jan. 6 in Buffalo, Hill entered Thursday with a 3-1-1 record and a .932 save percentage, which was tied for 10th best in the NHL among all goalies who played at least two games in that time. He also had a 1.99 goals-against average, which was seventh-best.
Seattle snapped a nine-game losing streak Monday at home against the Chicago Blackhawks.
