SAN JOSE, Calif. – Goalie Kaapo Kahkonen got an opportunity to start his first career game at home on Saturday as a member of the San Jose Sharks, a chance to pick up his victory in teal after a mostly solid outing two days earlier.
Kahkonen’s night lasted 20 minutes, as he was the victim of some shoddy defensive play in front of him and perhaps his own momentary lapse in concentration in a four-goal first period for the Dallas Stars.
James Reimer came on in relief of Kahkonen to start the second period but the damage had been done, as the Sharks were unable to overcome a three-goal deficit in what became a 5-4 loss to the Stars at SAP Center.
Nick Bonino, Brent Burns, John Leonard and Sasha Chmelevski all scored and Reimer finished with 14 saves as the Sharks lost their third straight game. Leonard and Chmelevski scored 3:14 apart late in the third period to draw the Sharks to within one goal, but they could not get any closer.
Kahkonen allowed four goals on 14 shots in the opening period, including a shocker to Jason Robertson with just 0.3 seconds left.
The Sharks were called for icing with 2.7 seconds left in the first period, as Jonathan Dahlen failed to get his stick on a puck at center ice that had rimmed around the boards by defenseman Mario Ferraro.
With the faceoff deep in the Sharks’ zone, Tyler Seguin won a faceoff back to Denis Gurianov, whose shot on goal went off Ferraro and off the end boards behind Kahkonen’s right shoulder.
Robertson won the race to the loose puck and shot the puck toward the Sharks’ net where it went off Kahkonen’s skate and over the goal line with a fraction of a second to spare.
Vladislav Namestnikov, Jani Hakanpaa, and Roope Hintz also scored in a span of 8:03 for the Stars in the first period. Former Sharks captain Joe Pavelski scored in the third period for Dallas, which won for the sixth time in seven games and moved past the Vegas Golden Knights for the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot.
Ferraro was expected to miss six-to-eight weeks after he had surgery on Feb. 27 to repair a fractured left fibula. But he began skating on Monday and had ramped up his on-ice activities since before he was given medical clearance on Sunday.
The Sharks’ homestand continues next week with games against Edmonton and Calgary on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.
Kahkonen was making his third start for the Sharks on Saturday and his second straight after he stopped 42 of 46 shots in San Jose’s 4-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.
Sharks coach Bob Boughner said he wanted to give Kahkonen, who made his first two appearances for the team on the road, the chance to start a game at SAP Center. Kahkonen came into Saturday with a 0-2-0 record and a .907 save percentage and a 4.01 goals-against average.
“I just liked Kaapo’s game (Thursday),” Boughner said before the game. “I thought he was moving well, regardless of the loss, I’d like to see him number one, play at home and get into a back-to-back situation and see more.”
Pavelski was playing his third game in San Jose in three years since he signed a three-year contract with the Stars in 2019. Dallas gave Pavelski, 37, a one-year, $5.5 million deal extension.
Burns and Pavelski now share an interesting stat in common, as both have now scored more goals after they turned 30 than before. Burns has now scored as many goals at age 30 or older (113 in 538 games) as he did before age 30 (113 in 699 games).
