Bummer of a game, but I'm still impressed that the team basically flatlined for the better part of two periods against an absolutely dominant San Jose squad that was firing on all cylinders, Grubauer (though I'm not at all blaming him) was less-than-stellar, and still managed to tie it up late. We know they're capable of playing bad hockey as they proved last night and during the early 2019 swoon, but they're also capable of fighting back.
Unfortunately you simply can't win when guys like Johnson and Landeskog play like they did last night. They were simply horrid, not even "average." Guys like Soderberg and I hope they bounce back and turn in a big effort in game 4, but give credit to the Sharks--they had a gameplan and they executed it to near-perfection.
I still think this squad is on the verge of becoming elite, but they need to make some more changes this offseason toward that goal. I'm not gonna sit here and say that Erik Johnson needs to be on the chopping block, but this is just another worrying sign that he's simply not aging well. Injuries might explain why he looks so abominably slow, but nothing can excuse that ridiculous turnover during a line change he committed in the 1st. But I think the conversation is going to shift quite a bit this offseason from everyone kinda assuming Barrie is going to be traded to EJ possibly moving on.