Sharks fall 4-3 to Stars as three Dallas power-play goals decide it

Let me say this gently, the way you'd tell a nephew his sourdough starter died: the Sharks lost 4-3 to the Stars, and the power play did it. Dallas cashed in on 3 of its 5 chances. San Jose, who scored first, got 1 on 6. Everything else in this game is garnish.

The ugly eight minutes

Michael Misa put the Sharks up 1-0 at 7:22 of the first with a snap shot, set up by Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. Less than two minutes later, Roope Hintz tied it at 9:16. On the replay, that one came on a 4-on-3 power play, a deflection of a Thomas Harley shot from the point.

Then the roof caved in. Jamie Benn scored at 15:17 on a scramble in front, and Jason Robertson hit an open net on another power play at 16:51. That made it 3-1 Dallas, and the Sharks were chasing the rest of the night. Thomas Harley added a power-play one-timer at 14:30 of the second for 4-2. Three power-play goals, four Dallas goals total, one Sharks team looking at a lot of penalty minutes. Jacob Trouba and Mason Marchment took 4 PIM apiece.

The kids did their part

I'll say it loud, because it deserves it: this young group did NOT quit. Ivar Stenberg, 19 years old and playing his 19th NHL game, beat Jake Oettinger high on a 3-on-2 rush at 2:47 of the second to make it 3-2. Then Smith, 21, finished a Celebrini pass into a wide-open net on a 5-on-3 power play at 17:02 to make it 4-3.

Celebrini was in the middle of all of it. He had 3 assists, one on each Sharks goal, along with 6 shots and 28:05 of ice time, and he was named the second star. Misa, 19, got his goal. Smith finished with 1 goal and 1 assist. And Eric Pohlkamp, a 22-year-old defenseman in his 3rd NHL game, picked up an assist on Stenberg's goal for the first NHL point of his career. (I have a soft spot for defensemen, so that's my favorite line in the box score. Frame it, kid.)

What the numbers say

• Faceoffs: Dallas won 39 of them, 69.6%, against 30.4% for San Jose. Hintz alone was 10-for-13 at the dot. Celebrini won only 5 of 22. Losing that many draws means a lot of chasing.
• Shots: Dallas outshot the Sharks 30-23.
• Goaltending: Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 26 of 30 (.867). Oettinger stopped 20 of 23 (.870). Neither goalie was a wall, so it comes down to who had the man advantage.
• Harley: The Stars defenseman had 1 goal and 2 assists and was the first star. He's the guy who made this feel like a loss you saw coming.

The third period was scoreless. The Sharks pulled Nedeljkovic late and scrambled around the net in the final seconds, but Oettinger held on. That's Dallas's second win of the season series, which the Stars now lead 2-0.

What's next

This hurts because the Sharks did a lot right. They scored first, scored on the power play, and never let it get out of hand. But you can't hand a good team three power-play goals and expect to survive. My opinion: the bigger question isn't the young scorers, it's the discipline. Eight penalties is too many for a team this short on margin for error.

The Sharks are back at it Monday at 10:00 PM ET against the New York Islanders. Bring a sweater, boys. It's November, and even in Dallas you can feel the fog rolling in on a 7-11-1 record.