Recap: Ducks Don't Gain Ground in 6-2 Defeat to San Jose

ANAHEIM - Two nights after the Ducks picked up an emotional victory over a Pacific Division rival, they couldn't maintain the magic against another one at Honda Center.

Anaheim's 6-2 defeat to the Sharks was a much less inspiring performance than the one that produced a 2-1 victory over the Kings on Friday night. The Ducks got within a goal early in the third, but San Jose came back with three unanswered in handing the Ducks just their third regulation loss in the last 10 games (6-3-1). It also kept the Ducks from picking up ground in the Western Conference playoff race, as they remained two points short of the second wild card spot.
"We did too much standing around," Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf said. "The intensity wasn't there with our legs. I thought in the first period we played okay. Not outstanding, but okay. Down a goal. We got a big goal at the end of the second and the start of the third, and then took a penalty again and weren't able to kill it. We lost the special teams tonight."
The Ducks made it a 3-2 game less than two minutes into the third on a beautiful feed from behind the net by Ondrej Kase to Getzlaf, who tapped it in from just outside the crease.

But a penalty soon afterward opened the door for a key San Jose goal, as Joe Thornton found the net on a slap shot from the left wing.
Brandon Montour whiffed on a one-timer near the halfway point of the period, sending the Sharks going the other way, where Mikkel Boedker cashed in from the wing for his second of the night.
The Sharks put the game away with just under five minutes left when Melker Karlsson ripped a slap shot past goalie Ryan Miller, who subbed in for John Gibson midway through the third.
The Sharks had played last night in San Jose, but it was the Ducks who looked like the more sluggish team tonight.
"It's very disappointing," said Rickard Rakell, who got his team-leading 17th goal tonight. "Really need to have a good stretch especially against divisional teams. We knew they played yesterday. We need to take advantage of that."
San Jose got the game's first goal with six minutes left in the opening period, when Tomas Hertl and Marc-Edouard Vlasic pulled off a give-and-go that finished with Vlasic burying one from the slot.
An Anaheim turnover unfolded into San Jose's second goal, finished off when Kevin Labanc faked a shot from the left wing then flicked it past Gibson.
The Sharks stretched it to a three-goal lead on the power play with six minutes left in the second on a snipe from the right wing circle by Boedker.
"We had some early chances in the game that we didn't score on," Rakell said. "They scored first instead. Maybe we got a little frustrated and that affected the way we moved forward. Maybe that was it tonight."
Anaheim got one back on a 5-on-3 following back-to-back Sharks penalties, with Rakell throwing the puck toward the crease and having it deflect in off the stick of San Jose d-man Justin Braun.

But it certainly wasn't enough on this night, the third game in a five-game homestand that continues Tuesday night vs. the Rangers.
"It's one of those you leave scratching your head," said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. "Coming off a day off, you'd have more energy and that would be tilted in your favor, playing against a team that played last night. They should be the tired ones. We didn't execute with the puck at all. We were chasing the majority of the game. We didn't give them a lot, but the ones we gave them they made count."