In San Jose, the Minnesota Wild let one get away on Monday night.
The Wild held a 2-1 lead over the Sharks early, but needed a late goal to force extra time.
The extra session solved nothing, and seemingly nothing was going to be solved in the skills competition, an eight round affair, until the Sharks finally came out with a 4-3 win.
Erik Karlsson struck for two goals in regulation and was credited with the game-deciding goal in the penalties.
“We found a way to capitalize on the chances we got and staying in it and playing a little bit fresher, which is nice and what we needed for a game like today,” said Karlsson said. “We have another one on Wednesday (against the Wild) where we know we’re going to have to step it up. The energy felt like it was a lot better today than it was the previous games.”
Martin Jones made 22 saves in the win.
“Those are the games, in order for us to take the next step as a team and have young guys playing in those situations … it’s good,” San Jose head coach Bob Boughner said. “They’re getting some great experience. That game was about patience and not getting too rattled. … [Minnesota] kept answering back, and we didn’t change our game. … I thought that we responded well and got our offense going the other way, so yeah, great game to play in for our young guys, to coach for us, and winning close ones and learning how to win those games is a big deal for us.”
Nick Bonino and Marcus Johansson scored for the Wild.
Minnesota dropped to 21-10-2.
“[Eriksson Ek] made a beautiful play and passed over to me,” Bonino said. “That was one of the easiest ones I’ve scored. It was a beautiful play.”
Kevin Fiala‘s third period goal got the game to extra time.
“I think I’m going to shoot it if I get it in positions where I can shoot it,” Karlsson said. “I got to shoot it a little bit more sometimes, but I think today, the first goal is a 2-on-1, I know I’m getting the pass, I’m just positioning myself to shoot it when I get it. The second one, same thing. There’s no one really in front of me, and I get a pass down low and walk the line and have a good screen. So if I keep getting in situations like that, I’ll shoot the puck.”
Cam Talbot made 36 saves. in the loss.
“We passed up a lot of opportunities to shoot the puck,” Wild head coach Dean Evason said. “… So that’s our main concern here tonight. But we thought we competed well.”
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