The San Jose Sharks’ loss to the Chicago Blackhawks highlights a growing problem

CHICAGO – The Sharks have been one of the NHL’s most surprising and talked about teams so far this season. They’ve had some tough spells, sure, but there’s been plenty of time to feel good as they’ve become playoff contenders after two consecutive years of bottom of the league.

Now the Sharks face the other side of that coin: heightened expectations and increased pressure.

“This is probably a new situation (to be in the playoffs) where we are right now,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said, “and I think it’s coming to us in a way.”

The Sharks lost their third straight game on Monday as the Chicago Blackhawks took advantage of San Jose’s slow start and sloppy defensive play to claim a 6-3 victory at the United Center.

The Sharks scored one goal in the first half, took four minor penalties in four minutes of the second, and were not physical as they trailed the Blackhawks 5-1 midway through the game.

What has worked for the Sharks for most of the season — getting pucks behind opposing players and using the foreskin — disappeared Monday, and he has been out since the first half of their game against the Edmonton Oilers last Thursday.

“When our foreskin goes, it feels like all three areas are going well,” Sharks defenseman Vincent Desharnais said, “and it’s been a few games now that the foreskin doesn’t go and even if it’s going 10 minutes out of 60.”

Warsofsky promised some lineup changes for Wednesday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche, and there’s a chance Kiefer Sherwood will be available.

But one person will not be a panacea.

Against Chicago, the Sharks allowed three second-period goals in 8:22 to fall behind 4-0.

Desharnais wasn’t as physical as he needed to be on Ryan Donato’s goal at 9:35 of the second period, as Donato pulled a toe in front of the Sharks defense before scoring on Yaroslav Askarov’s goal.

On a bad fourth goal, Shakir Mukhamadullin passed back to Dmitry Orlov in the Sharks zone and instead headed to Ilya Mikheyev. The Blackhawks’ scorer had a full day before finding a wide open Sam Rinzel, who stepped into the zone and fired one past Askarov at the 10:36 mark of the second.

That was on Askarov, who didn’t have the best defensive support as he allowed four goals on 10 shots. Still in his first full NHL season, Askarov has now won one of his six starts.

“It just seemed like he couldn’t come into the game with some early saves,” Warsofsky said of Askarov. “He’s a very emotional guy, and he wasn’t tested that much the first time. But they scored one (on Connor Bedard’s first-period goal) and the second one it was explosive, explosive.

“We need our goals. We need Askarov to be better. We need our players to be better.”

After beating the Oilers, where they held three goals before losing 4-3 in overtime, the Sharks, two days later, looked sleepy when they lost to the Calgary Flames 3-2.

The Sharks began their journey in the playoff spot as they held the second spot in the Western Conference. They are now 10th in the West with 58 points, three points behind the Anaheim Ducks for the final playoff spot.

The Sharks have a number of players who have never been to the playoffs before or entered the relegation race. As they get faster, the pressure rises.

“This is troubling,” said Tyler Toffoli, who won with the Sharks. “I think we had a chance to get two points, and I wasn’t sure if we weren’t ready. But it’s disappointing. Every point is important and we feel like we let it go in the last two games.”

Did that tough loss to the Oilers hurt the Sharks’ confidence?

It depends on who you ask.

“Maybe you should, to be honest with you, which is unfortunate,” Warsofsky said. “But we’re getting beat in the mouth and guts right now, and we have to move forward.”

“I think it looks that way, but that’s not the feeling in the locker room,” Toffoli said when asked about the Edmonton loss. “We never talked about it, to be honest, I think we did a good job of moving forward every day after the games.