Lethargic Sharks follow familiar pattern in loss to Philadelphia Flyers
The San Jose Sharks are far enough along in their season to know what works for them, and, more importantly, what doesn’t.
But playing the right way consistently remains a work in progress.
Outshot from the outset, the Sharks never found their game for any significant length of time in a sluggish 4-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The Sharks allowed second-period, even-strength goals to forwards Carl Grundstrom and Noah Cates, with Cates’ goal just before intermission proving to be a back-breaker, as the Flyers took a 3-1 lead at the 19:48 mark.
The Sharks never recovered, losing for the fourth time in six games and dropping to 1-2-0 on their five-game road trip, which continues with stops in Toronto on Thursday and Pittsburgh on Saturday.
The Sharks were unable to build on a 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday as they again fell into the habit of trying to do too much against a Flyers team that loves to clog the middle of the ice. Instead of chipping pucks deep, the Sharks often got too cute and managed just three shots in the first period and eight more in the second.
“It’s not hard. When they have a good neutral zone, and they’re clogging it up, you’ve got to put the puck behind them and then go to work,” Sharks winger Ryan Reaves said. “And if you want to go east-west, and kind of try and make moves from blue to blue, they’re going to come right back down your throat.
“Then it feels like the game’s just kind of slipping away, because they have all the momentum every shift, and you’re turning pucks over, and it just seems like everything’s coming back in your d-zone. It’s tough to win that way. We’ve just got to stop being stubborn.”
Winger Collin Graf extended his goal streak to three as he scored at the 11:33 mark of the first period for a 1-0 Sharks lead. But that was the Sharks’ first shot of the game on Flyers goalie Dan Vladar, who had to make just 17 saves.
Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic made 26 saves as the Sharks were outshot 29-18 and, per Natural Stat Trick, allowed 12 high-danger chances while creating just five.
San Jose was outshot 16-3 in the first period and has now been outshot in 27 of 31 games this season.
The Sharks are now 6-8-0 since a 2-1 overtime win over the Minnesota Wild on Nov. 11.
“We’ll keep working at it, teaching, keep coaching, keep meeting with guys individually and as a group,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said, “to get an understanding of how we need to play each and every night.”
Nedeljkovic got the start on Tuesday as Yaroslav Askarov came down with an illness and had to be scratched from the lineup.
With Askarov unavailable, the Sharks signed former Colgate University goalie Justin Kowalkoski to an amateur tryout contract to back up Nedeljkovic. Kowalkoski, 39, played at Colgate from 2004 to 2008 before a brief professional career.
Nedeljkovic finished with 28 saves, including 15 in the third period, on Sunday. Tuesday’s game marked the first time this season that Nedeljkovic has started consecutive games for the Sharks.
On Tuesday, Nedeljkovic had to make 15 saves in the first period, with the only blemish being Christian Dvorak’s goal at the 18:39 mark. Travis Konecny lifted a puck into the neutral zone, where it bounced off Trevor Zegras and past Sam Dickinson, where Dvorak picked it up, went in alone, and beat Nedeljkovic for his seventh goal of the season.
LINEUP NOTES
Warsofsky said Tuesday morning that Timothy Liljegren, who has been on the Sharks’ top defense pair alongside Dmitry Orlov for several games this season, was questionable to play Tuesday as he dealt with a lower-body injury.
But Liljegren, who averaged 20:07 of ice time in 24 games this season before Tuesday, took his regular spot in the lineup alongside Dmitry Orlov and had four blocks in 17:28 of ice time.
Reaves, after sitting out the last two games, drew back into the Sharks’ lineup and started on the fourth line alongside Zack Ostapchuk and Barclay Goodrow.
With Reaves returning, winger Jeff Skinner was a healthy scratch for just the second time this season. Skinner missed 10 games from Nov. 15 to Dec. 3 with a lower-body injury before returning to play the Stars and Hurricanes. Warsofsky told reporters in Philadelphia that he liked Skinner’s game in Raleigh, but that he wanted to go with a bigger lineup against a heavier Flyers team.
The only other time Skinner was a healthy scratch this season was on Oct. 26 when the Sharks beat the Minnesota Wild 6-5 in overtime. Skinner is three games shy of 1,100 for his career.