Once again, we went to a San Jose Sharks game today, and ignoring the typically obnoxious Philadelphia Flyers fans, it was another disappointing outing for the home team at the SAP Canter in Silicon Valley. Our NHL Saturday piece today looks at the Sharks’ mediocre third periods this season, since they once again snatched defeat from the jaws of potential victory, giving up three third-period goals to lose, 4-1, and drop in the Western Conference playoff standings. The fortunes for the postseason are rough.

San Jose is just 4-8-2 this year when entering the third period tied, which is problematic when you’re on the cusp of making the playoffs. And excuses being what they are, the bottom line is you have to produce, or you go home with no one but yourself to blame. This is a franchise that has not made the postseason since 2019, the last full season before the Covid pandemic. The once-proud organization that reached the Stanley Cup playoffs 19 times in a 21-season period from 1998 to 2019 isn’t changing that.

[To illustrate, say the team was 8-4-2 in these games? They’d be tied for second in the Pacific Division, instead of being sixth.]

It gets tiring to watch, whether as a sports fan, a historian, or a journalist. The Sharks have been outscored, 86-59, in the final frame, which is rough when you generally have younger legs than the opponent, considering the youth on the San Jose roster. It’s even more odd when you consider the team has outdone its opponents in the overtime session, doubling up there, 10-5. Somehow, the inexperience shows itself in the final 20 minutes of regulations, but if the kids survive that period, then they decide to sack up?

We’re not buying that, psychologically, for even if that was the issue, then the coaching staff has some serious answers to provide. A big part of the problem is that the team also has been outshot by 112 shots in the third period (yet also recovering to outshoot the other team by five in overtime). Where is the energy, the jump, and/or the motivation in those moments? This is where a team establishes an identity. Surprisingly, San Jose is 23-0-2 when leading entering the third, so there’s that dynamic to evaluate, too.

That record skews the data, somewhat, as the Sharks can sit on a lot of leads—which we never recommend with their mediocre defense and goaltending, of course—without attempting shots on goal or even scoring. Today’s matinee offers some anecdotal evidence, though, about the shots issue: there were about 10 different times a San Jose skater unloaded during the game with a sizzling slap shot, only to miss the net entirely and sting the glass behind the crease. We sat in there in wonder, pondering aim.

Basically, the Sharks shoot like stormtroopers: for every official shot on goal, they may have one or more attempts that completely are off target, and we don’t mean that in the sense the pucks are being deflected. They’re just outright missing the targets by wide margins. We also objectively feel the team is getting screwed by the officials, too, because for the second game we’ve attended in a row now (see March 7 loss to the New York Islanders), the refs are letting teams tee off on Macklin Celebrini without penalty.

San Jose might have lost this game at the start of the third period when one of the Flyers sent Celebrini flying into the boards in the Sharks’ offensive zone, and when there was no whistle, teammate Mario Ferraro went after the Philly offender and got put in the penalty box for it. Boom, the Flyers scored the game-winning goal before later adding on two empty netters when the San Jose extra-man attack failed to get a puck into the net (again, no surprise considering the numbers of shots that weren’t even close).

One might think the league would want to protect its youngest star from injury, but clearly this is no hidden agenda here: the refs protected the Islanders’ prize rookie earlier this month in San Jose, but the refs are not going to protect Celebrini. With 96 points in just 68 games, the Sharks superstar is having a great season, even without any help from the officials. He doesn’t even turn 20 until June, so maybe the league thinks he can take the abuse. But in punishing Ferraro for doing their job for them, the refs screwed up.

Again.

We wondered why San Jose Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky didn’t give the refs an earful, as the crowd certainly was doing so. If his own coaching staff and/or front office aren’t going to make a very public stink about the mistreatment, good on Ferraro for standing up for his teammate—even if it may have cost the Sharks the game, one they really needed at home to stay in the playoff hunt. San Jose needs some more toughness like this, even though we never condone “fighting” in any sport. Perhaps it will come.

We know the Sharks are young. We know they are growing. This is a team that lost its first six games (0-4-2) before recovering to post a 24-15-1 record over its next 40 games to get into playoff contention. But since then, San Jose is just 8-11-3 with the stakes getting greater, game by game. The inconsistency is frustrating and part of the growth movement, and maybe it’s “best” for the team to miss the Stanley Cup playoffs one more time to secure yet another top draft asset for the future, but … Tom Petty echoes.

The waiting is the hardest part.