Season’s smallest crowd sees epic collapse by San Jose Sharks

SAN JOSE – Goalie Kaapo Kahkonen has experienced his share of excruciating losses as a member of the San Jose Sharks over the last two years.

Tuesday night’s epic collapse against the Dallas Stars — in front of the season’s smallest crowd at SAP Center — had to rank at or near the top.

Kahkonen and the Sharks saw a three-goal lead disappear in a span of 2:44 late in the third period before Roope Hintz scored at the 1:49 mark of overtime to give the Stars an unlikely 7-6 win, handing San Jose its eighth straight loss.

“There’s (been) many tough losses, obviously, in those two years,” said Kahkonen, who came to the Sharks from the Minnesota Wild in March 2022. “Certainly one of the toughest ones, for sure.”

Sharks coach David Quinn didn’t dispute that this might have been his team’s most difficult loss — out of 46 — this season.

“Under the circumstances, it’s hard,” Quinn said, “because we played a pretty good game up until the last seven minutes.”

The Sharks led 6-3 at the 3:02 mark of the third period after Mikael Granlund scored his ninth goal of the season.

The Sharks (15-40-6) were managing the game fairly well and appeared to be on track to earn the win before Logan Stankhoven’s goal with 7:02 left in regulation time changed everything.

Skating alone in the neutral zone, Givani Smith coughed up the puck to Stankhoven, who raced into the Sharks’ zone and put a shot on Kahkonen. The San Jose goalie couldn’t quite corral the rebound, and Stankhoven tapped it in to cut the lead to two.

“(Stankhoven) shot the puck, it hit my blocker, and then my stick got stuck somewhere,” Kahkonen said, “so I couldn’t turn around and grab that puck from the goal line.”

For an already fragile Sharks team, it was the beginning of the end.

Wyatt Johnston followed that with two goals in 2:01, with his second goal at the 15:42 mark tying the game 6-6.

“We’re up 6-3 and playing good hockey, staying above them, not giving them much,” Quinn said. “Then we turn it over in the neutral zone and the floodgates open.

“I don’t know if they made a run as much as we gave it to them,” Quinn added. “You saw the fourth goal. That was the gift of all gifts, and then they got life.”

And then the Sharks sagged.

“Because it was too easy,” Quinn said. “It wasn’t like a hard-fought goal. We just gave them the puck in the neutral zone. You could feel it on the bench.”

The collapse spoiled the nights of Anthony Duclair (two goals and two assists) and Fabian Zetterlund (one goal and two assists).

“A lack of focus mentally, probably,” Duclair said of the loss. “In the third, leading 6-3, you just have to win that game. That’s just unacceptable. We just found a way to lose that game.”

Duclair now has 16 goals on the season – tied for the team lead – and 10 points in his last eight games. But as a pending unrestricted free agent, he figures to be one of the players on the move before Friday at noon.

Others include Kahkonen, forwards Matt Hoffman, Alexander Barabanov, and Kevin Labanc, and perhaps even center Granlund and defenseman Jan Rutta.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen. Obviously there’s a lot of speculation,” Quinn said. “I certainly don’t want to see (Duclair) go but I understand the circumstances and so does he.”

It would be stunning to see Zetterlund shipped out.

Not only is the 24-year-old Zetterlund under team control for a few more years, including for an economical $1.45 million next season, he’s also become one of the Sharks’ most impactful players.

Zetterlund assisted on Duclair’s goals in the first and second periods and notched one himself — off an assist from Duclair – in the first period.

“We have a lot of fun out there,” Zetterlund said of he and Duclair, “But we should win this game.”

Asked about Duclair’s uncertain future in San Jose, Zetterlund said, “We don’t think about that? Take it day by day and he’s on our team right now and the guy’s doing a fantastic job.”

The game was played in front of the season’s smallest announced crowd as just 10,070 tickets were distributed. The previous season-low was 10,074 for a Nov. 7 game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

The actual number of fans in attendance Tuesday looked to be far less, though, with most sections around the arena less than half full. Arena officials Tuesday were expecting around 6,200 fans in the building.