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The San Jose Sharks allowed the game-tying and game-winning goals to Martin Necas in a somewhat unfathomable 5-4 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.
Leading 4-2 with less than two minutes remaining in regulation time, the Sharks blew a coverage inside their own zone, allowing a goal to Sebastian Aho at the 18:23 mark of the third. Then with 11.5 seconds left, Necas scored to tie the game, collecting a loose puck and beating goalie James Reimer’s above his right shoulder.
Necas then scored just 55 seconds into overtime as the Sharks (14-25-11) turned a near-certain victory into another gut-wrenching defeat.
“We’ve had a season,” Sharks coach David Quinn said, “of just incredibly disappointing losses.”
Quinn was irate about the way the Sharks defended Aho’s third-period goal. Then on Necas’ first goal, the Sharks felt the puck never touched the ice on a faceoff to Reimer’s left before Jordan Staal drew it back.
“Just complete blown coverage on the third goal. Just got to protect the middle of the rink and we don’t do it,” Quinn said. “And on the fourth one, the puck never touches the ice on the drop.
“They got to shoot it from the corner, it hits the side of the net it goes right to Aho on the side. It wasn’t blown coverage. It was just them throwing the puck at the net, it hits the side and it goes right to Aho.”
Mikey Eyssimont assisted on Nick Bonino’s game-tying goal early in the third period and scored with 8:45 left in regulation time as the Sharks took a 3-2 lead. Ferraro’s empty-net goal came with 1:52 left in the third period, giving the Sharks a seemingly comfortable two-goal advantage.
Oskar Lindblom also scored and Reimer finished with 31 saves as the Sharks fell to 0-2-2 on a five-game road trip that ends Saturday in Pittsburgh.
On Eyssimont’s goal, he took a pass from Nico Sturm along the boards, took a stride toward the middle of the ice, and beat Hurricanes goalie Antti Raanta for his first goal in a San Jose uniform.
Eyssimont now has a goal and three assists in nine games with the Sharks since he was claimed on waivers by the team earlier this month. He had five points in 20 career games with the Winnipeg Jets.
The Sharks are now 5-6-11 in one-goal games this season, including a 3-2 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday. The Sharks began the road trip with a 5-3 loss to Columbus last Saturday and a 4-0 loss to Boston the next day.
VLASIC OUT: Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic was ill Friday and was scratched, missing his first game this season. Quinn said Friday morning that some of his defensemen were under the weather. Vlasic had 12 points in 49 games before Friday as he averaged just over 18 minutes of ice time per game.
NEW DEFENSEMAN: With Vlasic out, Jacob MacDonald, two days after he was acquired from the Colorado Avalanche, played his first game with Sharks as he was paired with Mario Ferraro.
“Just a two-way defenseman that can join in and contribute offensively,” MacDonald said of his style. “Steady in the D-zone and able to make a good first pass and hopefully get in and out of our D-zone pretty quickly. From time to time, there’s a little bit of physicality in there, too.”
MacDonald, 29, and forward Martin Kaut, 23, were acquired by the Sharks on Wednesday for forward Matt Nieto and defenseman Ryan Merkley.
In the first two periods, MacDonald had 10:45 of ice time and was credited with a blocked shot, a hit and a shot on goal.
“Just the first thing I thought of was just being excited for the opportunity to come here,” said MacDonald, who also knows Mikey Eyssimont and Nico Sturm on the Sharks’ roster, “and then play and kind of show what I can do.”
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