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Perhaps there was no other way for the month of December to end.
Looking to build on what was their most complete effort of the season three days prior, the Sharks instead fell flat against the worst team in the NHL, losing 2-0 to the Detroit Red Wings in the opening game of a five-game road trip at Little Caesars Arena.
Tyler Bertuzzi’s goal at the 3:15 mark of the second period stood up as the winner, as the Sharks, despite 34 shots on net, were shut out for the first time this season. Red Wings defenseman Filip Hronek scored an empty net goal with 49 seconds left in the third period to seal the loss for the Sharks, who entered Tuesday in 14th place in the Western Conference.
“It wasn’t a bad road game by us by any means,” Sharks interim coach Bob Boughner said. “But at this time of year, we’ve got to find ways to win, and we couldn’t find that way tonight.”
The Sharks went 0 for 3 on the power play, and are now 2 for 49 with the man advantage over their last 20 games.
The Sharks were coming off a 6-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, just their second victory in December. They ended the month with a 2-9-2 record, and are now 17-21-3 at the halfway point of the season.
This figured to be the most winnable game on the Sharks’ five-game road trip.
The Red Wings, in 31st and last place in the NHL, came into Tuesday on a six-game losing streak and with a 9-28-3 record overall. In fact, since losing to the Sharks in a shootout at SAP Center on Nov. 16, Detroit had gone 2-15-0, with its last victory coming Dec. 14 in Montreal.
In that miserable 17-game stretch, the Red Wings had allowed four goals or more 14 times.
They had allowed 101 goals in 5-on-5 situations in their first 40 games, one fewer than the Sharks, who were last in the NHL in that category coming into Tuesday. That doesn’t account for Detroit’s penalty kill, which was ranked 30th in the league at 72.3 percent.
Tuesday, the Sharks would put together a momentum-building shift here and there, but otherwise sustained very little at even strength inside the Red Wings zone.
For the month, the Sharks scored two goals or fewer 10 times in 13 games. Tuesday, though, marked the first time they had been shut out this season, as Red Wings goalie Jonathan Bernier had 20 saves through two periods.
“If you look at the last five, six games, excluding Philadelphia, we’re always scoring one, two a night and that margin for error is so small,” Boughner said. “I don’t think we really gave up much, but they get a bounce and a tipped goal and there it is.”
The Sharks next play Thursday in Pittsburgh and Saturday in Columbus, then conclude the road trip with games against the last two Stanley Cup champions. San Jose is in Washington to face the Capitals on Sunday and St. Louis to play the Blues on Tuesday.
Goalie Martin Jones, starting his second straight game, had 18 saves through two periods and finished with 21 saves.
