Kraken blanked 4-0 in shutout loss to Sharks

The Seattle Kraken delivered an enormous dud in San Jose.

The Kraken were shutout for the second time since the All-Star break, losing 4-0 to a depleted Sharks team that won just their sixth game at home this season.

"We got our asses kicked tonight. That's what I take from it," head coach Dave Hakstol said.

Martin Jones allowed three goals on 23 shots for the Kraken as James Reimer made 26 saves in the shutout effort for the Sharks.

The result was bad enough for Seattle, but the circumstances around the loss make it that much worse.

The Sharks were playing with only 11 forwards and seven defensemen as Timo Meier was out with an injury and Tomáš Hertl missed the game for personal reasons. Jacob MacDonald was pushed into a forward role for the game due to the absences for the Sharks.

Meier had a hat trick in San Jose's trip to Seattle in November as well. Meier leads the Sharks in goals with 31 this season. Meier and Hertl rank second (52) and third (47), respectively, on the Sharks in points this year behind defenseman Erik Karlsson's 74 points.

With games this week against the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs – two of the best teams in the NHL – points could be difficult to come by. With the Calgary Flames losing to the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday afternoon, it was a chance to gain more ground on a team at the playoff cut line as well. Losing to a bad and depleted San Jose team was a big missed opportunity.

"They were quicker and harder at the puck," Hakstol said. "I can use a lot of different adjectives to talk about it but they worked at a level that they were winning and dictating those battles."

The game spiraled quickly for Seattle. Both teams had one power play chance that went unconverted in a rather uneventful first period overall.

The Kraken turned up the pressure as they seemed poised to break the scoreless contest. Jordan Eberle and Oliver Bjorkstrand each missed on good chances in front of the net and Yanni Gourde had another chance stopped by James Reimer to keep the game scoreless. The momentum was swinging in Seattle's favor.

And then the puck ended up in their own net. Gourde raked a defensive zone face-off backward and the puck snuck by Jones and inside the post for a goal credited to Logan Couture and a 1-0 San Jose lead.

"It's unfortunate," Gourde said. "I don't think that Jones saw the puck at all from the face-off. (Dunn)'s right there and I think it goes by (his) foot and so it's a quick play, doesn't have time to react and it's in the back of the net. Bad luck, bad bounce."

Jaden Schwartz was then called for a holding penalty that gave the Sharks a power play chance. Just seconds after the penalty expired, Evgeny Svechnikov picked off a Vince Dunn zone exit and chipped his own rebound to extend the lead. Then with just 17.2 seconds left in the period, Noah Gregor beat Jones inside the post stick side to give San Jose a 3-0 lead.

"We had a couple opportunities in the second period (to be able to turn the hockey game), but we didn't execute," Hakstol said. 

Will Borgen had a chance blocked by Couture and Jared McCann was turned away by Reimer crashing the net as Seattle tried to answer early in the third period. A rebound chance for McCann was blocked by Mario Ferraro on another prime chance as the Kraken couldn't break through.

"It's really hard to dig out," Hakstol said. "This team works and skates and they did. They did what they do. They worked and they skate and in a 3-0 hole, that's pretty deep to dig out of. Some good opportunities, absolutely, some really good opportunities but now you're under the gun for a lot of things to go right."

Michael Eyssimont added a fourth goal for San Jose on a deflection in the crease past Jones with 3:03 left to play.

It's the third time this season that Kraken have been shutout. They lost 1-0 to the Minnesota Wild on November 11 and 4-0 to the New York Islanders in the first game out of the All-Star break on February 7.

Seattle beat both Boston and Toronto on the road as part of their eight-game winning streak in January. The Kraken were the first team to beat the Bruins at home in regulation this season.

Nevertheless, the games will be challenging outings for Seattle to find point against. if the Kraken are unable to win either of those games, the loss to the Sharks will sting that much more.