SAN JOSE, Calif. _ It appeared a long week was starting to catch up with the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.
Playing their fourth game in six days, the Sharks made a push in the third period but couldn't find the tying goal in a 3-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks at SAP Center, snapping a three-game win streak.
The Sharks got goals from Logan Couture and Dylan DeMelo, but Ryan Getzlaf's power play goal with 7:01 left in the second period stood up as the winner.
DeMelo's goal, his first of the season, came after a workmanlike shift from the fourth line.
The line of Ryan Carpenter at center and Micheal Haley and Kevin Labanc on the wings cycled the puck inside the Ducks' zone for roughly 45 seconds. Labanc fed DeMelo at the blue line and after a stride toward the net, DeMelo's got past a screened Bernier to tie the game 2-2 with 10:17 to go in the second.
But the Ducks took advantage of what was their only power play chance of the first two periods.
With Justin Braun in the box for elbowing Corey Perry, an open Getzlaf took a pass from Ryan Kesler and beat Martin Jones for his first goal since Oct. 16, breaking his own 15-game goal drought.
Anaheim came into Saturday with just 13 goals, including 10 at even strength, over its last six games and were clearly looking for a few more from Getzlaf and Perry. The two had combined for just five goals this season, as Perry hasn't scored since Oct. 26 against Nashville and Getzlaf's one previous goal came against the New York Islanders.
The Sharks trailed 2-1 after the first period after a disputed goal gave the Ducks momentum.
Couture gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead with a power play goal, the Sharks' third in four games, at the 8:40 mark. Joe Pavelski won a draw against Antoine Vermette back to Patrick Marleau, who found Couture along the wall. Couture took a stride toward the net and beat Ducks goalie Jonathan Bernier with a wrist shot to the top corner.
The Ducks tied the game just 64 seconds later though on a goal that left Sharks coach Pete DeBoer and his players scratching their heads.
Ryan Garbutt intercepted a Paul Martin pass, skated through the neutral zone and straight toward the Sharks goal. He crashed into Jones before he could get a clear shot away, but after a brief review, officials ruled the puck crossed the goal line before the net was dislodged.
DeBoer challenged the goal on the basis of goalie interference. But a second review determined that Garbutt was pushed from behind by defenseman Brent Burns.
Less than four minutes later, Rickard Rakell batted in a pass from Perry to the side of Jones for a 2-1 Ducks lead.
The Sharks' organizational depth has been tested over the last two weeks with injuries to Melker Karlsson, Tomas Hertl and now Tommy Wingels.
Hertl will be out for at least the next couple of weeks with a right knee sprain, Karlsson hasn't played since Nov. 12 and was placed on injured reserve Saturday and Wingels suffered a lower body injury in the first period of Friday's game against the New York Islanders. DeBoer said Saturday morning that Wingels is day-to-day.
_The Sharks recalled forwards Barclay Goodrow and Carpenter from the Barracuda. Goodrow was a healthy scratch and Carpenter centered the fourth line with Haley and Labanc.
"Right from training camp, I've been very comfortable with our depth," DeBoer said before the game. "There's a lot of guys. When we're making those decisions on who comes up, it's not a list of one guy or two guys. Maybe last year you were talking about the same one or two guys.
"Now that list is four or five deep. (Nikolay) Goldobin's name comes up. Timo (Meier's) name comes up because he's scoring every night. There's some real depth there. I'm looking at it more as an opportunity to see some of the guys down there than a disadvantage with everyone going through these type of injuries. I'm excited to see the guys and what they do with the opportunity."
