Outshot 39-23, the Sharks were down 3-0 going into the 3rd before we made a game of it and scored a couple to make it close, but it was too little too late as the newly aquired Maxim Afinogenov finished us off with 41 seconds remaining to make it a 4-2 game on a short handed goal.
Special teams was the name of the game today with the Sharks going 0 for 3 on the PP and giving up the late short hander and the Wild going 2 for 8 on their PP chances. Sharks have played very undisciplined so far this season, giving up the 5th most penalty minutes per game at 22.8 M/G. That's far too many and our PK just isn't strong enough to fend off that much time being a man down every game.
Positives to take out of this is Kotalik and Johnsson hooking up for a goal in their first game as Sharks and both being +1 on the night despite the loss. Budaj also played another strong game but he can't do everything, the team needs to help out on their end too.
A couple injuries to report out of this one as well as the Wild's highly sought after and new kid "on the block", Jay Bouwmeester, is out with a day-to-day injury and the Sharks leading PKer Dean McAmmond is out for at least 5 days with what's being called an "upper body injury". Unfortunately for the Sharks, they will play a game on every one of those five days so this could hurt our already struggling PK.
After losing to the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Sharks will now host the new and improved Cup Finalist from last year as Joe Thornton and the Pittsburgh Penguins visit San Jose. We're hoping having come from an ugly "steel" city like Pittsburgh, the Pens will be enjoying the wonderful weather and beautiful scenery so much they lose focus on why they came to California. That, and they continue to struggle for at least one more game before righting their ship.
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