Mowed down in Motown

The Sharks pick up a point from Little Caesars Arena.

The San Jose Sharks fell 3-2 in overtime to the Detroit Red Wings in their second and final meeting of the season on Jan. 24 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

The first period went scoreless, but the second period saw both teams score two goals, starting off with Adam Erne for the Red Wings at 2:17. Timo Meier scored his 28th of the year less than six minutes later. Michael Rasmussen put Detroit ahead 2-1 at 16:29, and Logan Couture scored San Jose’s final goal of the night, his 17th, with just seven seconds left in the second period.

The third period was another scoreless affair, and Detroit’s Andrew Copp scored his fifth goal of the season 25 seconds into overtime to sink San Jose.

Neither the Sharks nor Wings scored a power play goal on one and two chances respectively. Detroit controlled 56 percentcent of faceoffs and blocked 23 shots, while San Jose logged nine blocks.

What’s the deal with Kevin Labanc?

This seems like a fair question to continue asking. In his return from four straight healthy scratches, Labanc put up just two shots, one hit and a +1 rating in 14:30 of game time playing second line minutes with Tomas Hertl and Meier.

His linemates each recorded a point on Meier’s first goal, with Hertl and Erik Karlsson assisting, but Labanc was basically invisible against a team that’s barely over .500.

A good offense or a bad defense?

James Reimer did his job well, but the Sharks were sunk by an inability to score more than two goals against Ville Husso, whose 3.03 goals against average (GAA) and .908 save percentage (SV%) shouldn’t be a problem for San Jose’s supposedly strong offensive capabilities.

The Sharks scored two goals on 30 shots. In comparison with Detroit’s three goals on 35 shots, you can see the slim margins that win and lose hockey games.

Time to worry about Hertl?

Hertl assisted on Meier’s first period tally, but the scoring touch hasn’t quite returned. Curiously, Hertl didn’t record a single shot in the game, but he did record a block. Do I smell a Selke nod?

Thoughts

• While Hertl didn’t score and the score was 3-2 instead of 4-2, JD’s bold prediction nearly came true, as Meier scored a goal in a game that the Sharks lost late. It wasn’t quite a third period collapse, but I’m sure Reimer wishes he could have that game winner back.
• With his assist on Couture’s game-tying goal, Erik Karlsson tied Sandis Ozolinsh for the fifth most points by a Sharks defenseman in a single season with 64. The remaining top spots are all owned by Brent Burns’s four-season run between 2015 and 2019. To take over the top spot — a 16-67-83 effort by Burns in 2018-19 — Karlsson just needs to score 20 points in 33 games, or .61 points per game. His current pace? 1.31 points per game.