Sharks winning streak ends at six with loss to Panthers

SAN JOSE --The San Jose Sharks' six-game winning streak ended with a 4-2 loss to the Florida Panthers at SAP Center on Thursday.

The Sharks (43-20-8) are one point ahead of the Calgary Flames for first place in the Pacific Division. They would have become the first Western Conference team to clinch a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a victory.
"Sure, every time you lose a game it's opportunity lost, but you're not going to win every game the rest of the way," San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said. "Two weeks ago, we were seven points back. I think we're in a pretty good spot, and we worked awful hard to get there."
WATCH: [All Panthers vs. Sharks highlights]
The Panthers (31-27-12) are seven points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"We're not out of it yet," Florida coach Bob Boughner said. "We know it's a long way to get there, but we're concentrating on winning every game. That's the goal. ... We're not giving up till the end. We're going to fight."
Jamie McGinn, Dryden Hunt, Mike Hoffman and Frank Vatrano scored for Florida, which won its third straight game and is 4-1-0 in its past five against San Jose. Rookie Sam Montembeault made 26 saves to win his third straight start overall and his first NHL start on the road.
"I was just doing what worked for me before, focusing on my game and wasn't getting intimidated by the crowd," Montembeault said.

Melker Karlsson and Kevin Labanc scored, and Martin Jones made 23 saves for San Jose, which would have matched its season-long winning streak with a victory.
The Panthers played for the first time since defeating the Detroit Red Wings 6-1 at home Sunday. The Sharks played their third game in four days, including road wins against the Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets on Monday and Tuesday.
"We didn't look good," San Jose center Logan Couture said. "We didn't look fast. We looked slow. Turning pucks over. Penalties. I'm sure the energy level looked like it was low, but we got to find a way to play better than that."

Hunt tied the game 2-2 at 1:25 of the second period with a wrist shot from the high slot that went under Jones' blocker and inside the left post.
Hoffman put Florida ahead 3-2 with his 15th power-play goal of the season on a slap shot from the high slot at 18:49.
The Panthers went 1-for-5 on the power play. The Sharks were 0-for-3.
"We didn't help ourselves," DeBoer said. "We took too many penalties, but that's usually the result of reaching because your legs aren't moving enough. Just one of those nights. We found a way a lot of times this year to win these games when our energy was down, but tonight wasn't one of those nights. You have to give them credit too. They played hard."
Vatrano made it 4-2 at 8:17 of the third period, taking a pass from Hoffman on the rush and scoring from close range.

Montembeault made 12 saves in the third period.
"Another game where he looked real composed," Boughner said. "He probably didn't like the first goal. He probably would like to have that one back. But that's the great thing about him: He's not getting rattled. He's holding his own and coming up with some big saves like he did at the end."
Karlsson scored on the rush to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 7:22 of the first period. The goal was his 100th NHL point.
McGinn, who played for San Jose from 2008-12, tied it 1-1 at 11:45 when he scored with a wrist shot off the rebound of an Aaron Ekblad shot.
Labanc scored on a one-timer from the left face-off circle at 14:36 to put the Sharks ahead 2-1.

They said it

"We knew we had to raise the level of our game. That's a good hockey club over there, and this is a tough building to play in. Everyone had to be at their best, and I thought everyone worked hard."-- Panthers forward Mike Hoffman
"We weren't really smart out there, taking penalties that cost us. It's tough. They grabbed momentum from their power plays and they capitalized on one of them." -- Sharks forward Kevin Labanc

Need to know

Panthers center Aleksander Barkov had an assist on Hoffman's goal to extend his point streak to four games (two goals, eight assists). … Sharks center Joe Thornton played his 1,555th game to passed Jarome Iginla for 13th in NHL history. … San Jose defenseman Joakim Ryan returned to the lineup in place of Radim Simek, who will have surgery after damaging two ligaments in his right knee Tuesday against Winnipeg. Ryan was a healthy scratch the previous 18 games.

What's next

Panthers: At the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday (4 p.m. ET; FS-W, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Sharks: Host the Nashville Predators on Saturday (10:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSCA, FS-TN, NHL.TV)