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SAN JOSE — Tomas Hertl couldn’t completely steal the spotlight away from Taylor Hall and the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night.
Hall assisted on Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s goal with 2:37 left in the third period as the Coyotes handed the Sharks a 3-2 loss at SAP Center.
Hertl scored goals in both the first and second period but the Sharks could not beat Coyotes goalie Darcy Kuemper a third time, as they fell to 1-2-0 under interim coach Bob Boughner.
The Sharks had a power play with 58.7 seconds left in regulation time after Ilya Lyubushkin was called for cross checking, and had a 6 on 3 advantage after Brad Richardson was also called for cross checking with 43.8 seconds left.
But the Sharks came up empty on the golden opportunity, falling to 0 for 4 on the night and 1 for 37 over the last 15 games.
Aaron Dell, making consecutive starts in net for the first time in just over a calendar year, made 16 saves on 19 shots.
The Sharks allowed just 11 shots on goal in the first two periods, including nine at even strength, but were still tied 2-2 with Arizona after 40 minutes.
Lawson Crouse took a pass from Vinnie Hinostroza inside the Sharks zone and sent a pass toward the Sharks net to an open Derek Stepan, who had beaten Dylan Gambrell up the ice. Stepan took the pass and went backhand to forehand in front of Dell to score his sixth goal of the season at the 9:11 mark of the second period.
The Sharks got the goal back at the 13:55 mark of the second, as Hertl, after taking a pass from Brent Burns at the Coyotes’ blue line, skated in and beat Kuemper with a wrist shot high to the blocker side from the faceoff dot.
Hertl tied the game 1-1 with 2:34 left in the first period on a similar shot after a nifty pass from Erik Karlsson.
With Karlsson skating back poast the red line, he took a peek over his shoulder and found Hertl near the Coyotes’ blue line on the far boards. Hertl then streaked in alone at an angle and beat Darcy Kuemper with a low wrist shot to the blocker side for his 13th goal of the season and his third in as many games.
Arizona opened the scoring at the 4:57 mark of the first period. With the Sharks hemmed in their own zone after a failed clearing attempt from Timo Meier, Clayton Keller fed Carl Soderberg, who found some open space in front of the Sharks net and beat Dell for his 10th goal of the season.
On Monday, Hall and Blake Speers were acquired by the Coyotes from the New Jersey Devils for Arizona’s 2020 first round draft choice (conditional), Arizona’s 2021 third round draft choice (conditional), forwards Nick Merkley and Nate Schnarr and defenseman Kevin Bahl.
Hall’s addition bolsters a Coyotes team that entered Tuesday tied with the Edmonton Oilers atop the Pacific Division with 42 points, eight more than the Sharks.
“We’ve got a lot to focus on in this dressing room,” Sharks captain Logan Couture said, “so what other teams do really, shouldn’t affect us right now. You see (the trade) and you realize you’re going to play against the guy a little more. He’s a very good player and is probably going to make them better.
“But we’ve got a lot of to focus on in this room.”
