SAN JOSE -– Playing arguably the worst team in the NHL, and a club that entered with a dreadful losing streak, the Sharks were downed 4-2 by Vancouver on Thursday night at SAP Center.
The loss, combined with a Kings’ win over Calgary, virtually assures the Sharks of finishing in third place in the Pacific Division. In that situation, they would open up the first two games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on the road in either Los Angeles or Anaheim.
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Trailing 2-0 early, the Sharks tied it at 2-2 in the third period on Logan Couture’s goal at 10:58. Coming off of his first career hat trick on Tuesday in Vancouver, he corralled a seam pass by Brent Burns and buzzed it past a prone Ryan Miller.
Vancouver responded, though. On a two-on-one that started with Joe Thornton and Burns failing to connect on a cross-ice pass in the offensive zone, Jannik Hansen overpowered Martin Jones with a shot from the circle at 14:57. Markus Granlund added an empty-net goal with 20 seconds to go.
The Canucks snapped a nine-game losing streak and won their sixth in a row at SAP Center, including both this season.
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San Jose Sharks
Joonas Donskoi’s rough first period helped stake Vancouver a 2-0 lead.
It didn’t take long. Paul Martin’s attempted pass to Donskoi clanked off the forward’s skate, resulting in a rush the other way. Hansen’s shot rebounded perfectly to Daniel Sedin, who was left untouched by Burns and easily whacked it in at 1:09.
Bo Horvat stripped Donskoi of the puck later in the frame, and went to his backhand to slide the puck through Jones at 13:55 on a partial breakaway.
San Jose cut the lead in half with the only goal of the middle frame. Stationed between the circles, Patrick Marleau quickly released a pass from Thornton at 14:30 to make it 2-1 at the second break.
The Sharks concluded the five-game season series with Vancouver with a 3-2-0 mark, winning all of their games at Rogers Arena.
Special teams
The Sharks finished 1-for-4 on the power play, and are 10-for-41 over their last 11 games (24.3 percent).
Vancouver went 0-for-4, and is just 1-for-36 on the power play over the last 13 games. San Jose is 17-for-19 on the PK over the last seven (89.4 percent).
In goal
After sitting in favor of James Reimer on Tuesday, Jones started his third game in the last four and allowed three goals on 25 shots.
Miller, who has been alternating with Jacob Markstrom for the past month, improved to 2-6-1 in his last nine starts with 32 saves.
Lineup
Joel Ward returned after missing Tuesday’s game for undisclosed injury reasons. He replaced Micheal Haley, who had played the previous four straight games.
With his assist on Marleau’s goal, Thornton tied Mike Gartner for 30th place on the NHL’s all-time scoring list with 1335 points.
Vancouver lost forward Sven Baertschi after the first period with a lower body injury. Jake Virtanen served the first of a two-game suspension for his late hit on Roman Polak on Tuesday.
Up next
The Sharks now embark on their final road trip of the regular season, visiting Nashville on Saturday and Minnesota on Tuesday.