The Sharks surely knew headed into their Tuesday night meeting with Arizona that the young, rebuilding Coyotes had been struggling mightily lately.
Perhaps that’s why they went to sleep in the second period. Arizona outcompeted and outclassed the Sharks in the middle frame, scoring three times and went on to beat the Sharks at Gila River Arena, 3-2.
San Jose (6-4-0) saw its three-game winning streak come to an end, while the Coyotes (3-6-0) won for just the second time in their last eight.
The Sharks seized a 1-0 lead on a Patrick Marleau goal in the first period, but it quickly evaporated in the middle frame.
First, Brad Richardson was permitted to waltz to the front of the net from the back wall, after Brent Burns and Paul Martin were both caught out of position. Richardson slipped it past Martin Jones at 3:42.
Just one minute and 18 seconds later, Lawson Crouse redirected a Kevin Connauton floater for his first career goal to give Arizona its first lead.
The Sharks had a brief chance to equalize the score shortly after the Crouse goal when Joe Pavelski smacked the crossbar with a shot, but instead it was Arizona increasing its lead when Jamie McGinn’s wrister from high in the zone fluttered past the glove hand of Jones at 11:59.
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Louis Domingue, who entered the night with downright horrid numbers in goal, kept it a 3-1 game when he robbed Brenden Dillon with just five seconds to go in the second period.
The Sharks pushed in the third, firing 16 shots on goal, but only managed a Mikkel Boedker marker with 10 seconds left in regulation. San Jose didn’t get another shot after that one.
The Sharks fell to 14-5-3 in their last 22 meetings with Arizona.
Tomas Hertl had a secondary assist on both of San Jose’s goals.
