SAN JOSE – The toughest part for the San Jose Sharks right now isn’t that they’re on an 11-game losing streak.
It’s that this is already their second such skid of the season, and they’re not even halfway through the year.
The Sharks were largely outworked as they fell behind by two goals after two periods and were unable to recover in what became a 4-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday before an announced sellout crowd of 17,435 at SAP Center.
The Sharks (9-28-3) allowed a power play goal to Mitch Marner in the first period and an even-strength marker to Calle Jarnkrok near the end of the second that turned into the game-winner.
Mikael Granlund scored for San Jose with 8:03 left in regulation time to cut Toronto’s lead to 3-1, but William Nylander scored his second goal of the third period with 3:32 to go to seal the Maple Leafs win, as ex-Sharks goalie Martin Jones made 23 saves.
“I didn’t really love our compete tonight,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “I thought we got out-worked and out-competed too often tonight.
“Listen, (the Leafs) have more talent than we do. Nobody is (denying) that, but we need to be way more consistent with our compete.”
Goalie Mackenzie Blackwood had another solid performance with 29 saves, although there were hiccups. Marner’s shot from near the faceoff dot to the right snuck by him on the short side, and Jarnkrok’s perimeter shot, with 42 seconds left before intermission, got past him before it slid into the back of the net.
