Sharks can't complete comeback, fall to Ducks

BOX SCORE

SAN JOSE -- Eventually, they are going to start going in. At least, thats what theyre telling us.The San Jose Sharks outshot and outchanced their opponentagainbut came out on the wrong end of a 3-2 loss to Anaheim at HP Pavilion on Monday night. It was their second loss to the Ducks in four nights, and third straight overall. They are now 1-3 and in last place in the Pacific Division.Listening to the postgame quotes is starting to sound like a broken record.

We got another 40-plus shots, we just have to bear down when the chances are there. Were getting good, quality scoring chances, were just not scoring, Joe Thornton said.Dan Boyle said: I dont know that were giving up that much defensively. Just offensively its not clicking or going in for us.Once again, it was early mistakes that cost the Sharks. The team committed three straight minor penalties in the first period, leading to the ageless Teemu Selanne putting the Ducks on the board with a power play goal at 9:42, when he tapped in a pass through the slot by Saku Koivu. We said before the game, stay out of the penalty box. We made a parade to the box early on and it flattened us out for the whole first period, Thornton said.Selanne added a second goal less than five minutes later when he snuck behind Colin White and got the rebound of Koivus bad-angle shot to make it 2-0.Todd McLellan switched up his top two lines to start the second period, putting Logan Couture with Thornton and Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau with Ryane Clowe and Torrey Mitchell. It seemed to jump start his club, which outplayed the Ducks the rest of the way. By the time it was over, the Sharks had 43 shots to Anaheims 22.San Jose finally found the scoreboard with a fortunate bounce. Marc-Edouard Vlasic lifted a backhander on net that deflected off of goaltender Dan Ellis, hit Bobby Ryan in the shin, and redirected back into the net. Marleau was in the crease at the time hindering Ellis vision, and Vlasic got credit for his first of the season at 6:39 of the second period.The Sharks applied good pressure to start the third, trailing 2-1, but suffered a back-breaking goal to last seasons league MVP when Corey Perry wheeled around and fired a wrist shot through Dan Boyle into the top corner of the net.Antti Niemi, making his first start of the season, explained the goal from his perspective.I obviously saw it at some point, but should have seen it maybe earlier and made the save there, he said.Niemi may be being a little hard on himself, as Perry, in the faceoff circle, used Boyle as a screen and put the puck where few players in the league can.Perry spun and fired it where he needed to fire it. It was as simple as that, McLellan said.Brent Burns power play goal in the third brought the Sharks back to within one, but that was as close as they got. Ellis, starting his first game of the season to give starter Jonas Hiller a break, stopped a turnaround shot by Couture late in the period and Burns hit the side of the net with a bouncing puck with 23 seconds remaining.It just kind of handcuffed me. If I was a lefty I would have been good, but I cant shoot left, said Burns of his late opportunity.As for the Sharks' line changes, McLellan was cryptic after the game as to which players he was trying to send a message to.It was our way of telling a number of players we werent very happy with them, he said. Quite frankly, were still missing some key people, and they arent injured. They are dressed, and they are people that we count on. Its probably a pretty good weekend for them to take stock of their own games and figure out what they need to do to find it.Well save the speculation for another day as to which players McLellan is talking about, but should point out that Thornton, Couture and Marleau are still looking for their first goals of the young season.The Sharks will regroup with a practice tomorrow before flying to Newark, New Jersey on Wednesday. They open up a six-game road trip on Friday night against the Devils.We go on the road now, so just have a good road trip, Thornton said. Weve had a pretty good road record in the past, so just look forward to it and just keep working at it.Odds and endsThe Sharks finished 1-for-6 on the power play, and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill. ... Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller, who shut out the Sharks 1-0 on Friday, got his first night off after playing the first four games of the season.Thorntons assist on Burns goal was his first point of the season. It ties him with Sergei Fedorov for 53rd place on the all-time assist list with 696.Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin took a scary looking slap shot to the head in the third period, but was apparently saved by his visor. He later returned.