San Jose Sharks @ Florida Panthers 1-4 - 11/11

The Sharks have struggled during the first three games of their seven-game road trip and trailed 2-0 12:18 into this one. The Panthers held the Sharks to 10 shots in the first period and two in the second. The Panthers scored first when forward Jussi Jokinen dug the puck out of the left corner and passed it to Vincent Trocheck at goalie Antti Niemi's right. Trocheck spun and tapped it to Hayes, who fired a shot over Niemi's glove for his second goal of the season at 10:56 of the first period. About a minute later, Tomas Kopecky shot the puck along the boards to Niemi's right to Scottie Upshall in the corner. When Upshall started toward the back of the net, Niemi turned his head expecting Upshall to come around to his left. Instead, Upshall passed to Barkov, who was at the bottom of the left circle. Barkov scored his second goal of the season at 12:18 on a shot Niemi never saw. The Panthers made it 3-0 at 6:37 of the second period. Defenseman Aaron Ekblad dumped the puck into the Sharks end following MacKenzie's faceoff win. From the corner to Niemi's left, the puck came back to Ekblad at the point. Niemi stopped Ekblad's shot through traffic, but fell, and MacKenzie put in the rebound for his second goal of the season.
In the third period, Sharks forward Adam Burish attempted to clear the puck, but it slipped off his stick. Thornton was there to take it in the middle of the zone, down the left wing, with Vlasic playing him closely. Thornton slid the puck into the crease, and Fleischmann tapped it in past an outstretched Niemi at 3:01 for his first goal of the season. Joe Thornton scored for San Jose at 10:35 of the third period when he tapped in a puck that floated up behind Luongo after he made the initial glove save on defenseman Brent Burns' shot from the point. Luongo made nine saves in the third period to cap Florida's strong defensive effort. Without the puck, the Panthers look to block shots.

Sharks Quotes

Marc-Edouard Vlasic: "Obviously, we want to fix that. It's troubling, but it's only three games and we can change things. We have four games left on this road trip and we have to figure out a way to get some points."
Todd McLellan: "There were a number of (issues) tonight. First of all, we didn't execute at all. We didn't put two passes together, and when we did win battles for the puck and had an opportunity to get up ice, we didn't have the awareness we needed."