In San Jose, the Sharks failed to right the ship in their fourth game of the new season. San Jose lost, 5-2, to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday to go to 0-4-0.
“It’s nice to end the road trip with a win after losing the first two and to be able to go back home now and enjoy it and get some home games,” Chicago’s Taylor Raddysh said.
Chicago’s Sam Lafferty hit a double on two shorthanded strikes in the win.
“Feels really good,” Lafferty said. “All around good clears, good speed, good pressure and a couple of good bounces.”
Petr Mrazek made 24 saves for the Hawks win.
The Sharks grabbed a 2-0 lead in the game off goals from Erik Karlsson and Nico Sturm .
“Nobody feels sorry for you in this league,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “Nobody cares why you lose, they just see 0-4 and they see you lose 5-2, so we’ve got to find ways to be more consistent.”
The Blackhawks rallied on goals from Jonathan Toews and the two shorthanded goals from Lafferty for a 3-2 lead.
“We had a chance to just stop at the net-front and defend and live another day, and we didn’t do that. We panicked,” Quinn said. “We chased the puck. We played mindless and it ends up in the back of your net.”
Taylor Raddysh had a goal for Chicago, and Jason Dickinson added a single marker and three points in his debut with the Blackhawks.
The win was the first for new Chicago bench boss, Luke Richardson.
“Our first period, we were really good the first half of the first period and then I think we thought it was coming maybe a little too easy,” Richardson said. “We took the foot off the pedal and had a couple scrambling [defensive]-zones they ended up capitalizing on. We kind of went to the dressing room after the first and just chatted with the guys. Credit to all the leaders in that room. I didn’t say too much.”
Kaapo Kahkonen made 20 saves in the Sharks loss.
“In this game, a lot of adversity is thrown your way and it’s about how you react to it, and we haven’t done a good enough job so far,” Sharks forward Logan Couture said. “You lose four in a row you’re not jumping for joy. Guys are upset, frustrated, everything that you can imagine when you’re going through tough times.”
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