SAN JOSE – The Sharks failed to keep their razor-thin playoff hopes alive for at least one more game.
After blowing a two-goal lead in the third period, the Sharks saw Andre Burakovsky score at the 41-second mark of overtime in a 5-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Monday as they were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
Burakovsky got a head of steam into the Sharks’ zone, backed off defenseman Brent Burns and fired a shot from the top of the slot that Martin Jones couldn’t handle.
“It’s tough to see the way that game ended,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. “I thought we should have been celebrating the two points tonight for sure.”
Up by two goals in the third period, the Sharks allowed goals by Gabriel Landeskog and Nazem Kadri as the Avalanche came back to force overtime. Burakovsky’s goal was his 16th of the season.
“I’m not sure what happened, but I found a lot of room in the middle of the ice,” Burakovsky said. “I don’t know if they were changing or what they were doing, but I found some ice and I felt like Burns was standing pretty low, so I shot. Definitely nice to see it go in.”
Asked what he saw that turned the game around, Boughner said, “I don’t know. Three bad goals. Didn’t get a save. You guys watched the game, it’s pretty obvious.”
The Sharks were up after two periods and were up 4-2 early in the third after Timo Meier scored with 16:28 left in regulation time. Landeskog scored at the 8:59 mark of the third to cut San Jose’s lead to one, then Kadri scored with 3:39 left in regulation after a Burns turnover to tie the game.
Evander Kane scored twice and Tomas Hertl added a goal and an assist for the Sharks, who lost their third straight game to the Avalanche. The Sharks and Avalanche play again Wednesday when the two teams wrap up their season series. San Jose is now 1-6-0 against Colorado this year.
Alexander Barabanov assisted on Kane’s second goal at the 7:47 mark of the second period for his fifth point in five games since he joined the Sharks lineup on April 26. Jones finished with 26 saves.
Kane now has five goals and four assists in his last six games, and Hertl has four goals and six assists in his last seven games.
The Blues beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 earlier Monday, meaning the Sharks had to beat the Avalanche to stay alive for a playoff spot. San Jose is now nine points back of St. Louis with four games to play.
“I thought we played a hard game tonight,” Boughner said. “You get a 4-2 lead with eight minutes to go and there were some real good things. We limited them in the second period, our penalty kill was good.
“We’ve got guys that are playing hard and no one’s cashing in their ticket yet, or no one’s taking the easy way out. I’m happy about that.”
The Sharks and their fans accepted some time ago that they would miss the playoffs for a second straight year.
The Sharks last week began to accept that they would fail to make the playoffs for the second straight year, as they began to rotate some less-experienced players into the lineup.
Along with Barabanov and with some other players at less than 100 percent health, the Sharks have also given playing time to forwards Joachim Blichfeld, Alex True, Ivan Chekhovich and defensemen Brinson Pasichnuk and Christian Jaros.
This year marks just the third time in the Sharks’ history that they’ve missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. They also missed the playoffs in 1992 and 1993, and 1996 and 1997. Before this year, the Sharks had missed the playoffs seven times in 29 seasons.
“I think every team that missed last year’s playoffs is still out,” Boughner said. “It just goes to show you don’t flip things around in this league is six months, eight months, or 10 months. It takes time and there’s pain involved and some growing to do. That’s where we’re at.”
The Sharks were just three points out of a playoff spot on April 10, but then went 0-7-1 over their next eight games to take themselves out of contention. The Sharks entered Monday eight points behind St. Louis for the fourth and final playoff spot in the division.
Boughner said he talked to the Sharks’ leadership group after the NHL trade deadline last month to discuss what the team’s plan was moving forward, and to get everyone on the same page.
“We’re trying to build out a better team next year, and this is the short-term pain you’re going have to go through,” Boughner said. “These guys have bought into that, they know that/ I haven’t seen anybody throw the white flag up or quit.
“It is a situation that everybody wants to see the finished product, but they’re not really interested in seeing how that’s built.”
