Sharks squander opportunity in ’embarrassing’ loss to Red Wings

Sharks waste five-minute power play in loss to Red Wings originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea

The Sharks were handed a golden opportunity to come from behind against the Red Wings but fell flat on their faces. 

Losing to Detroit 6-2 Tuesday night at Little Caesars Arena, San Jose dug itself in an early 3-0 hole, only to squander a golden opportunity to make up ground with a five-minute power play that resulted in two goals… for the opposite team. 

Not ideal. 

“You can’t go down 3-0 when you’ve got a five-minute power play,” Coach Bob Boughner told reporters postgame “That’s your chance to make a difference in the game, set the tone, get the game back to even, even if they got a lucky bounce on the first one. The opposite happened and give any team in this league a 3-0 lead and you’re in trouble.”

According to NBC Sports Bay Area Sharks Statistician Darin Stephens, the last time San Jose surrendered two shorthanded goals on the same power play was a game on Nov. 25, 2009, against the Chicago Blackhawks. It’s a rare feat and a humiliating one at that. 

“It’s tough because I know we were pretty good the first 20 minutes,” Tomas Hertl said postgame. “They got an unlucky goal and you go in the second and we’ve got a four-man power play and (you expect) to change the momentum of the game and you showed up like that. They get two goals, that’s just … I don’t know what to say, it’s just embarrassing.”

“Obviously you want to score a couple goals on a power play, not give up some,” goalie James Reimer added. “It’s unfortunate. As a goalie, you want to come up with the save there for your team and unfortunately, that’s not the case.”

Unfortunately for the Sharks, they are without one of their best offensive weapons in Logan Couture and Mario Ferraro who are both in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol. 

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Because Tuesday night’s loss was so ugly, the Sharks couldn’t even use the shorthanded excuse even if they wanted to. 

“Obviously…