Boughner believes latest OT loss ‘story of' Sharks' season

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Tuesday night was an all-too-familiar feeling for the Sharks. 

Falling 2-1 to the Edmonton Oilers in overtime at SAP Center, San Jose has now lost four straight games and has gone 2-8 in overtime games since Jan. 15. 

When matched up with Edmonton in five-on-five, the Sharks were stellar defensively. When the Oilers were shorthanded, though, San Jose continued to falter.

“Yeah we did everything we needed to do 5-on-5, it’s one of our most solid games in a long time," coach Bob Boughner told reporters after the game. "A little bit of a story of our year … We had so many chances. [Oilers goalie Mike Smith] plays great and you can’t get that second goal you need and change the whole face of the game. That’s a team that takes advantage of things.

“Five-on-five we generated, we played hard, I thought we were physical," Boughner added. "We collapsed, I thought we took away a lot of stuff around our net, we were harder in front of our nets. That’s the way we want to play and the frustrating part is that you don’t see the results. You get a point, but if you play that way … we have to start scoring, that’s the bottom line. You can’t score one goal, two goals on a nightly basis, it doesn’t matter how well you play.”

Edmonton is the seventh-highest scoring team in the NHL, averaging 3.5 goals per game. For most of the game, the Sharks kept them in check. But as the story goes this season, it all comes down to the power play. 

“We played a really strong game against a real offensive team," Tomas Hertl said postgame. "It’s tough because we give up on our power play goal and it just can’t happen … we give up too many chances on our power play. I know it's just one goal, but it can’t happen anymore. Special teams men must be really strong if you want to win some games. It’s tough to lose like that, but I think we battled hard tonight.”

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Of course, the overtime loss will net the Sharks a point in the standings, even though they felt as if they should have had the full two points. Once the initial sting wears off tonight, they'll still have something to show for their efforts tomorrow. 

“I think when you wake up tomorrow, it will be nice to get at least one point," goalie James Reimer said. "I thought we battled hard, we played really well. Probably one of our better games in the last week."

With 13 games remaining, the Sharks will look to finish strong and maybe, just maybe -- albeit rather unlikely -- make a push for one of the final playoff spots. 

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