The San Jose Sharks’ Halloween matinee turned into a nightmare fast, and there was no late escape this time. After stealing a win from the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night, the Sharks came into their matchup with the Ottawa Senators hoping for something cleaner and more convincing. Instead, they spent most of the afternoon chasing the game and never really found it.
Ottawa dictated the pace early, putting San Jose under heavy pressure right from the opening minutes. The Sharks didn’t record their first shot on goal until eight minutes had gone by, and even that came on a dump from the neutral zone that reached Senators goaltender Sam Ersson. San Jose did show a little more life as the first period wore on, but the Senators still landed the first punch.
At 13:24 of the opening frame, Dylan Cozens scored on the rush and beat Alex Nedeljkovic five-hole for the game’s first goal. San Jose answered less than three minutes later. Jacob Trouba and Kiefer Sherwood worked hard on the forecheck, forced a turnover, and Trouba fed Michael Misa in front, where Misa buried it past Ersson at 16:06 to tie the game 1-1.
The tie didn’t last long once the middle period started. Tim Stutzle put Ottawa back in front at 10:54 after Michael Misa was laid out in the neutral zone, setting up another rush chance for the Senators. From there, the game tilted even further.
San Jose’s first power play came shortly after the halfway mark when Fabian Zetterlund was called for a bench minor too many men penalty. Ottawa turned that opportunity into a dagger almost immediately. Just 39 seconds into the man advantage, Ridley Greig scored shorthanded on the rush for his first shorthanded goal of the season, pushing the Senators ahead 4-1.
The Sharks did survive a major penalty-killing test early in the third. At 3:46, Jacob Trouba and Sam Dickinson each took penalties, giving Ottawa a full two minutes of 5-on-3 time. San Jose’s penalty kill held that stretch off the board, but the damage had already been done.
Shane Pinto finished it off with an empty-net goal to make it 5-1 and lock up the Senators’ win.
For San Jose, it was another rough outing, and this time there was no rally waiting at the end to save them.
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