Sharks get dominated once again by Sabres in 5-0 loss

SAN JOSE — There's a decent argument to be made that if I were to highlight three key moments from San Jose's 5-0 loss to Buffalo, Thursday night, that the Sabres three goal outburst in the second period could account for all of them. But since that sequence happened as quick as it did, all of those goals run together.

After playing one of the best teams in the NHL even through the first 20 minutes, the wheels came off for San Jose in the second and third. Here are some subtle and not so subtle moments that caught my attention that night at the Shark Tank

Key moment #1: Everything that went wrong for the Sharks for about two minutes

With the Sharks buzzing and creating scoring opportunities, particularly the line of Michael Misa, William Eklund and Kiefer Sherwood, San Jose appeared to be getting things tilted their way after a fairly even opening frame. Then the Sabres started doing what the Sabres do. This resulted in three goals in under two minutes as Buffalo converted on all of its high-danger scoring chances. The first goal came after a hard shot off the inboards from Josh Doan produced an opportunistic bounce off that found the stick of Noah Ostland for the first tally of the game.

Ideally, I would have liked to see a stronger effort from Sam Dickinson on that play. The young defenseman was far enough out of the play that Macklin Celebrini actually ended up being the nearest defender to the shooter at the time of the goal. It would have been nice if Celebrini could have anticipated that bounce of the boards a little better but Dickinson needs to do a better job of accounting for that forward as he crashes toward the net.

The Sabres struck again on the very next shift with a shot from Sam Carrick that rocketed off his stick to beat Alex Nedeljkovic high blocker. There's not a whole lot to analyze on that one. Sometimes the goalie just gets sniped and this was definitely one of those times.

The third goal in Buffalo's attack came from Rasmus Dhalin as the Sabres put on a passing display that just looked way too easy from San Jose’s standpoint. There appeared to be no anticipation of where the open man would be as the netminder was again being asked to move laterally and track the shooter of the one-timer.

When all was said and done the Sharks had allowed three goals on four shots a minute and 43 seconds of playing time. The most disappointing aspect of that disastrous portion of play? By the time the second period was completed the Sharks still held a 17-8 shot advantage.

Key moment #2: Alex Lyon makes big saves to close out second period

The Sharks are a young team and are therefore more prone to swings in momentum having a negative impact when the team struggles to score. In theory, no team should try to reinvent the wheel in their gameplan in response to a lack of puck luck but these players are human and will start to deviate from the program if they are frustrated by an impending shutout. Sharks forward Adam Gaudette alluded to this in his postgame media scrum following the 5-0 loss. “It's always frustrating when (your opponent) scores but we have to do a better job of hanging on to the momentum and having a good shift after the first goal.”

That quote came in response to a series of questions regarding a shot by Will Smith that rang off the post on an odd man rush early in the second period but there was an equally promising opportunity that went by the wayside thanks to some clutch saves from Sabres goalie Alex Lyon. Zack Ostapchuk generated one of the better scoring opportunities for San Jose when a shot went high off the shoulder of Lyon who then stood firm to snuff out any attempt to bang home the rebound with Barclay Goodrow and Colin Graf sniffing around the crease. Going into the third period down by a pair instead of three could have been the energy boost they were looking for, but instead they had to go to the locker room and reconcile how they could be down by such a margin while outshooting their opponent by nine.

Key moment #3: Desharnais' almost fight

I hate to be that guy, but you’ve got to defend yourself at some point. With some frustrations starting to show late in the third as the Sabres expanded their lead to 4-0, things were understandably chippy out there. Vincent Desharnais got into a shoving match with Carrick in the corner of the Sharks' zone in a mini scuffle that almost resulted in the dropping of gloves. Instead, Desharnais had some choice words for Carrick or possibly the officials before heading off the ice after having his helmet forcibly removed during the conflict.

Ever the good Samaritan, Nedeljkovic skated out of his crease while play was at the other end to retrieve his teammates helmet off the ice and placed on the back of the net for safe keeping. Would I have liked for Desharnais to square up for fisticuffs there? I don't normally say this but given how the Sharks were pushed around in that game, yes. Would a scrap late in a blowout game make up for the Sharks overall lack of physicality? Absolutely not. Furthermore, when I think of instances where I would have liked to see more grit from a San Jose D-man, Dickinson is the first player that comes to mind as his inability to get the puck off Jason Zucker's stick led directly to the pass that set up the third goal. I also would have liked to see more physical play from Mario Ferraro who plays some of his best hockey when he's throwing his weight around.

I am certainly not blaming Desharnais for the Sharks lack of physical toughness, but honestly as a fan I would have liked to see him punch someone in the face after 50 minutes of watching the boys in teal get physically overpowered.

Ultimately, it's hard to feel too bad about losing to Buffalo considering the tear they have been on in the second half of the season, but if the Sharks are thinking of themselves as a playoff team the gap between them and the best teams in the league cannot be this wide on home ice. Head coach Ryan Warsofsky said that after a disappointing showing, the team can't afford to dwell on this most recent loss for too long.

“We have to get better at some details in our game. There's some line change stuff and playing on the defensive side of pucks in all three zones,” he said. “We’ve got to move on. We’ve got to keep pushing. We have 15 (games) left after tonight. So we'll wake up tomorrow and get back to work.”