SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The San Jose Sharks had two goals disallowed Thursday night. One was by a fraction of an inch. The other didn't seem to be as tough to overturn.
The Sharks only generated a handful of quality scoring chances Thursday night against the Florida Panthers, and their frustrations mounted when two of their would-be tying goals were taken off the scoreboard.
It all resulted in a 2-0 loss to the Florida Panthers as the Sharks were shut out for the first time this season before a season-low announced crowd of 16,411 at SAP Center.
Sharks goalie Martin Jones finished with 26 saves as Colton Sceviour and Nick Bjugstad scored for the Panthers, coached by former Sharks assistant Bob Boughner.
Trailing by one, the Sharks on two occasions thought they had the equalizer _ once in the second period and once in the third.
On the second disallowed goal, Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo was unable to catch a shot from Kevin Labanc. With the puck loose in the crease, Tomas Hertl, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Joonas Donskoi crashed the net and wound up pushing Luongo's pad and the puck over the goal line at the 14:44 mark of the third period.
After a challenge by Boughner, it was ruled the Sharks had interfered with Luongo. According to NHL Rule 78.5 (ix) "Apparent goals shall be disallowed by the Referee when a goaltender has been pushed into the net together with the puck after making a save."
The Sharks also thought they had the equalizer with 15:23 left in the second period, as Tim Heed wired a shot from the blue line past Luongo.
It was first ruled a goal. But after a Boughner challenge, it was ruled that the puck was barely outside the blue line before Heed got the shot away.
Otherwise, it was tough for the Sharks �who had not played since Sunday's 2-1 win over Los Angeles _ to generate many quality opportunities.
The Sharks took Monday off and had light, quick practices on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"You're early in the season, but you're also getting into the meat of the schedule," DeBoer said Thursday morning. "For me, if there's any question at all, you want to be as energized as possible come game time, and not leave our legs on the practice rink. That's always the way we'll err here."
Jones had to make nine saves in the first period, including one with 34 seconds left on a breakaway chance by Bjugstad, as he got a piece of Bjugstad's shot before the puck wound up in the protective netting behind the Sharks' schedule.
The Sharks were entering a busy, but also perhaps forgiving, part of their schedule.
Their game against the Panthers was the first of four straight against teams that as of Thursday morning, were out of a playoff spot. The Sharks host Boston on Saturday and Anaheim on Monday before they head to Arizona to face the Coyotes on Wednesday.
The Sharks play at Vegas on Nov. 24 and host Winnipeg the following night, closing out a stretch of five games in eight nights.
With 21 games at that point, that'll take them just past Thanksgiving, a decent indicator which teams will make the postseason.
From 2000-2015, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, 78 percent of teams that were in a playoff position at Thanksgiving wound up in the postseason. Last season, 12 of the 16 teams that were in a playoff spot the day after Thanksgiving still made it.
"That's not a guarantee you're getting in at the end, you can't take your foot off the gas," DeBoer said. "But it's a important time of year right now to push through and make sure we're putting points in the bank."
The Panthers came into Thursday with a 6-9-2 record, tied for 15th in the 16-team Eastern Conference. Boughner is trying to implement a lot of the same systems that he brought to San Jose.
"It's two teams playing the same way," Boughner said Thursday morning. "The team that makes less mistakes, and comes out a little harder, and a little more desperate, is going to have a good chance of winning."
"On their tape, you see a team that's getting better, probably better than their record indicates," DeBoer said of the Panthers.
_Defenseman Paul Martin remained on injured reserve with an ankle issue and missed his 14th straight game Thursday. Martin has been skating for over a week but hasn't had to rush back with the emergence of Joakim Ryan as a steady defense partner for Brent Burns.
Asked whether Martin not playing right now is more a coach's decision rather than a medical one, DeBoer said, "I have not had a conversation with Paul and our trainers and everybody who goes into that decision, where everybody has said, 'OK, this guy in 100 percent ready and now you've got to decide whether to healthy scratch him or not.' I think we're very close to that, but I haven't had the discussion yet.
