The San Jose Sharks had a four-game winning streak snapped on Monday, as they were simply unable to get past Jonas Hiller, losing 3-2 to the Anaheim Ducks. Hiller stopped 36 of 38 shots, far more than were fired at San Jose's Antti Niemi, and was the biggest reason for the Sharks' loss. Anaheim didn't reach double-digit shot totals in any of the three periods, finishing with just 23 shots on goal. Niemi was only able to stop 20 of those, though. San Jose had 38 shots on the night, with a whopping 18 of them coming in the third period.
Andrew Cogliana scored the game-winner for Anaheim in the second period, five minutes after Jamie McGinn tied it for the Sharks. Luca Sbisa got the scoring started for Anaheim, and Bobby Ryan lit the lamp early in the secondary to give them the lead. Joe Pavelski had the other goal for San Jose. The Sharks dominated play for a large portion of the game, but the goalie play didn't hold up. Defensively, they weren't sound either, with one of the Anaheim goals coming off of a mis-handled puck by Joe Thornton.
This is the third time the Ducks have beat the Sharks this season, and only their tenth win of the year. It was just their third road win they walked away with at HP Pavilion, the second time they've done so this year. This marks the end of a four-game losing streak for Anaheim, on top of all of that.
For the Pacific Division, it doesn't mean a whole lot. The Dallas Stars lost their game as well, a 5-3 defeat at the hands of the St. Louis Blues, while the third-place Phoenix Coyotes lost 4-3 to the Los Angeles Kings. San Jose remains in the top spot in the division with Dallas at 41 points.