The Sharks called on goalie Zach Sawchenko to take over in net Tuesday night after James Reimer left the game against the Vegas Golden Knights with a lower-body injury.
Unfortunately for Sawchenko, he received about as much support — offensively and otherwise — from the skaters in front of him as Reimer did for much of the last month.
The Sharks allowed two goals to Reilly Smith and one to Keegan Kolesar in a 3-1 loss to the Golden Knights, their 11th straight defeat at the hands of their once-fierce rival.
Noah Gregor scored the lone goal for the Sharks (24-24-6), who still haven’t won consecutive games since the second week of January. The Sharks beat the Seattle Kraken 3-1 on Sunday.
The Sharks were outshot 31-17 by the Golden Knights.
San Jose has not beaten the Golden Knights since Nov. 21, 2019, when Pete DeBoer was San Jose’s coach and Aaron Dell was the starting goaltender. Since, the Sharks are 0-9-2 against the Golden Knights, including a 4-1 loss on Feb. 20 at SAP Center.
With Vegas’ win, DeBoer earned his 500th career victory as an NHL head coach. DeBoer had 198 wins with the Sharks from 2015 to 2019.
Reimer, who was making his 13th straight start, has been the Sharks’ best player since the NHL all-star break and was brilliant again in the opening 20 minutes, stopping 10 of 11 shots.
Still, the Sharks trailed 1-0 after the first period at T-Mobile Arena as they gave up the first goal for the ninth time in 10 games.
With the puck in the Golden Knights’ zone, defenseman Jake Middleton attempted a pinch to help the Sharks maintain possession. Instead, Vegas created a 2-on-1 the other way, with Keegan Kolesar one-timing a pass from Brett Howden past Reimer for an early Golden Knights lead.
Otherwise, Reimer kept the Sharks in the game. He stopped a point chance and a Zach Whitecloud and a breakaway try by Jonathan Marchessault, both coming off defensive breakdowns.
Reimer was relied upon for over a month as Adin Hill has been bothered by his own lower-body injury since late January. In February, Reimer played nearly every minute of all eight Sharks games and finished with a 2-3-3 record despite getting just 17 goals in support.
Reimer entered Tuesday with a 15-12-5 record, a 2.84 goals-against average and .916 save percentage.
Gregor tied the game for the Sharks, burying a pass from Nick Bonino at the 1:53 mark of the second period for his third goal of the season.
Sawchenko stopped nine of 10 shots in the second period, as Smith scored his 15th of the season at the 13:56 mark for a 2-1 Golden Knights lead. Smith also scored at the 4:45 mark of the third, as he was left alone beside the Sharks’ net when he took a pass from William Karlsson and beat Sawchenko.
Sawchenko’s two other appearances came on Jan. 2 against Pittsburgh and Feb. 14 against Edmonton. In the two games, he made 22 of 23 saves in 48:43 of ice time.
The Sharks also lost defenseman Mario Ferraro for six to eight weeks, as he suffered a fractured lower left fibula in a 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
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