Sharks takeaways: What we learned from brutal 3-2 OT loss vs. Kings

SAN JOSE - Games between the Sharks and Los Angeles Kings usually are very entertaining. Friday's contest, however, was something else entirely.

After another third-period meltdown, San Jose let a two-goal lead slip through its fingers and eventually fell in overtime to their SoCal rival 3-2.

Here are three takeaways from Friday's game.

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Third-period blues

Yes, we have to talk about the third period, again. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the Sharks aren't going to make any headway in the standings if they can't play a full 60 minutes. There's just no way around it.

It appears that no lead that San Jose has after 40 minutes is safe.

After being held off of the scoreboard through two periods, LA cut San Jose's lead in half 2-1 less than two minutes into the final frame and tied things up with less than two minutes to play.

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Turnovers

Regardless of whether the Sharks won or lost Friday night, they really need to cut down on turnovers. They tallied 10 giveaways through the first 40 minutes of play and continued that trend in the final 20 -- not good for a team trying to reverse its bad luck during third periods.

While neither team was particularly strong when it came to puck possession, San Jose needs to be better at handling the puck through the neutral zone. With the first game after the long holiday break out of the way, that aspect of their game needs to tighten up.

Dell

Really, you can't put Martin Frk's two-goal third period or the OT loss on Dell.

For as ugly as Friday's game was, Dell was a standout. In his first career start against the Kings, No. 30 saw the bulk of the shots come his way -- especially in the first period when the team in front of him didn't tally a shot on goal through more than eight minutes. He did a good job of locking down the crease. The loss isn't on his shoulders.