Brandon Saad and Duncan Keith scored two goals in 68 seconds in the final four minutes, but it was too little too late for the Blackhawks in a 4-2 loss to the Sharks on Tuesday night at the SAP Center.
Tomas Hertl scored a goal and had an assist. Patrick Marleau and Evander Kane both scored and Timo Meier added an empty-netter for San Jose, who snapped a five-game losing streak. Martin Jones had an easy night by stopping 19 of 21 shots, and not seeing double digits in shots until the third period.
Robin Lehner made 28 saves as Chicago finished its four-game road trip 1-2-1 in embarrassing fashion against a team at the bottom of the Western Conference.
Ryan Carpenter, of all players, had the Blackhawks’ most promising scoring chance early in the first period on a wraparound, but he couldn’t manage to get a clean shot off.
The Blackhawks then struggled to generate scoring chances with only three shots on goal and 10 shot attempts through the first period. Chicago even had a power play opportunity in the frame, but it was San Jose’s Marc-Edouard Vlasic that had the best scoring chances while shorthanded.
Jonathan Toews stepped up with the Sharks having 25 seconds of 5-on-3 power play time late in first with two big defensive-zone faceoff wins.
Eleven seconds after the Blackhawks killed off the remaining 1:28 of Brandon Saad’s penalty to start the second period Timo Meier sent a spinning wrister on net that deflected off Marleau for 1-0 Sharks lead as Brent Seabrook stood idly by.
The Blackhawks continued to struggle getting out of their own zone or generate any possession as they did not record a shot attempt until the 8:44 mark of the second.
With Chicago on the power play, Evander Kane picked up a loose puck that jumped over rookie Adam Boqvist’s stick on a clearance and beat Dominik Kubalik to the loose puck to beat Lehner for a shorthanded goal to double the lead.
Kubalik had the Blackhawks’ best scoring chance about four minutes into the third period on a breakaway, but Jones made the stop. Moments later Hertl appeared to ice the game when he whipped a wrister that sneaked through Lehner.
Saad crashed toward the net and chipped in Toews’ centering pass over Jones to avoid Chicago being shut out for the third time in six games.
Keith then fired a slap shot from the point that made it through traffic to the back of the net.
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Tomas Hertl (SJ) — 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 shots, 64.74 CF%
- Timo Meier (SJ) — Empty-net goal, 2 shots, 60.87 CF%
- Evander Kane (SJ) — Shorthanded goal, 2 shots, 75 CF%
What’s next?
The Blackhawks host the Canucks on Thursday at the United Center.