There was no explosion like there was in last year's New Year's Eve matchup. But for the second year in a row, the Sharks weren't able to get into the win column before the clock struck midnight.
San Jose (17-21-3) went into Tuesday's game with a bit of an edge over the league-worst Red Wings (10-28-3). But Team Teal just wasn't dominant enough to get a jump on the injury-riddled Detroit squad at Little Saesars Arena as they were shut out 2-0 in the second and final meeting of the season between the two teams.
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Here are three takeaways from the Sharks' final game in 2019:
Neutral zone turnovers
San Jose got into bad turnover trouble last Friday against Los Angeles but appeared to have learned from their mistakes the following night against Philadelphia. The difficulty hanging onto the puck struck again in Detroit and a neutral zone turnover by Erik Karlsson resulted in the Red Wings taking a 1-0 lead in the second stanza.
To be fair, these turnovers aren't strictly the fault of the Sharks' defense. How the offense handles the puck and how ready the goaltender is to make a critical save also play a role here. But if San Jose doesn't cut down on the turnovers, they aren't going to be able to climb out of the Western Conference cellar.
San Jose Sharks
The goalie battle
Martin Jones didn't play a bad game on Tuesday night -- his performance was far from some of the rough outings he's had this season. He was especially good on the Sharks' penalty kill, which kept the Red Wings' tepid power play off of the board.
The difference was that Jones let a goal squeak by him and his opponent, Jonathan Bernier, didn't. Bernier had himself a very strong outing on Tuesday, turning away quality chances the Sharks threw at the net. While his late-game stops made a big difference, he had two particularly big saves on Antti Suomela, who penciled back into the lineup with Melker Karlsson sidelined with an injury.
On that note ...
Fourth line
Suomela had a mighty return to the lineup, but his linemates on San Jose's fourth line didn't miss a beat either. Stefan Noesen and Joel Kellman haven't played together for very long, but their chemistry and physical style of play are exactly what the Sharks need.
Now that San Jose is finally getting positive production from its fourth line, the rest of the offense needs to follow suit. The Sharks are still in search of a four-line game -- and they're going to need that as this very tough road trip continues.