Sharks’ homestand ends on sour note but Duclair’s trade value may be on rise

SAN JOSE – Anthony Duclair added to his trade value, Mike Hoffman snapped a 28-game goal drought and the San Jose Sharks power play showed some impressive signs of life.

It still wasn’t enough for the Sharks to end February on a positive note, and March doesn’t get any easier.

After rallying to tie Thursday’s game, the Sharks allowed two goals on the penalty kill near the end of the second period and were unable to recover in what became a 6-4 loss to the Anaheim Ducks before an announced crowd of 10,537 at SAP Center.

The Sharks (15-38-5) scored a season-high three power-play goals, with the third coming off the stick of Duclair with 10:30 left in regulation time.

But San Jose could not find the equalizer as it lost for the seventh time in eight games and closed their homestand with a 0-5-0 record.

“I liked our game,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “I just didn’t like the score.”

The Sharks now travel to face the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars on Saturday, then turn around and face the resurgent Minnesota Wild on Sunday.

The two-game trip starts a month in which the Sharks play 15 times in 30 days, with now four games left before the NHL trade deadline on March 8. San Jose, with one of the worst records in the NHL at 15-38-5, is bound to be one of the league’s sellers.

Scouts from eight NHL teams were in attendance Thursday.

“The same approach we coming into every game (with),” Hoffman said of the trip. “We’ll look at some film, try and clean up in a few areas, and get ourselves ready to go.”

Quinn met with the Sharks on Wednesday to talk about the trade deadline and the distraction it often involves.

“We’re all humans. We all know what time of year it is,” said Duclair, a pending unrestricted free agent and likely one of the Sharks’ most attractive forwards. “But at the same time, I think the guys have done a good job staying focused and staying dialed in every game and practice.

“We know that it’s a stressful time of the year but guys are professionals here, and we have each other’s backs no matter what.”

Hoffman and William Eklund also scored with the man advantage, as their goals 5:14 apart in the second period tied the game 3-3. But the Ducks responded with power play goals from Frank Vatrano and Adam Henrique in a 66-second span to take the lead for good.

Hoffman’s goal was his ninth of the season. He, too, is a pending UFA.

“Try and control you can control,” Hoffman said. “All that outside stuff, you can’t do anything about it. All you can do is take care of what you do in here every day, come to work, and try and help this team win hockey games.”

After Duclair’s third-period goal, Isac Lundestrom scored an empty netter with 24 seconds left in regulation time as Anaheim snapped its three-game losing streak and captured the season series against San Jose with a 3-1-0 record.

In the loss, Duclair had his first three-point game as a Shark, Mikael Granlund had three assists and Fabian Zetterlund added two assists for San Jose.

San Jose, in 31st place in the NHL’s overall standings with 35 points and a .302 points percentage, is now 10 points back of the Ducks. The Chicago Blackhawks also have 35 points but have played two more games than the Sharks with a 15-40-5 record.

Henrique’s goal at the 18:41 mark of the second period came off a redirection as he tipped a shot from Ducks defenseman Jackson Lacombe past Kaapo Kahkonen, who allowed five goals on 17 shots in the first two periods.

Kahkonen, a pending UFA and a potential target before the March 8 trade deadline, was shaky from the start.

He allowed two goals on the first three shots he faced, including a shorthanded goal by Brett Leason, who found some space on a rush up the ice and beat Kahkonen through the legs for his eighth goal of the season at the 4:37 mark of the first period.

Kahkonen finished Thursday with 24 saves on 29 shots. On Tuesday, coming in relief of an injured Mackenzie Blackwood, Kahkonen allowed seven goals on 31 shots to the New Jersey Devils in two-plus periods.

The 7-2 loss to the Devils was another low point for the Sharks this season,

“I think, after the last game, it was one of those games where everybody had to step up, especially in front of our home fans,” Duclair said. “We wanted to make sure we ended this homestand on a good note. Obviously, it didn’t go our way again, but I liked the way we competed and battled back and stayed in it right there until the end.”

Kahkonen has now assumed No. 1 goalie duties for the Sharks after Blackwood was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury he suffered in Tuesday’s game.

“I’m sure he’d like to have a couple of them back,” Quinn said on Kahkonen’s performance on Thursday. “I didn’t think it was his sharpest game.”

While Kahkonen’s trade value might have taken a hit, Duclair’s could be on the rise. A pending UFA like Kahkonen and Hoffman, Duclair now has four goals and an assist in his last five games and is now third on the Sharks with 13 goals.

Kahkonen and Magnus Chrona, who was recalled from the Barracuda of the AHL after Blackwood was placed on IR, will each start one game this weekend.