San Jose opened Monday night in Dallas with two shots. Yaroslav Askarov faced 11 at the other end. That imbalance was more than an awkward opening statistic; it became the clearest description of the Sharks’ 5-0 loss and the workload placed on their goaltender.
The result left San Jose at 2-1-0, a respectable record that does not make this performance irrelevant. Five goals allowed make an ugly line for Askarov. The more revealing figure was the one beside San Jose’s attack: 13 shots, with only seven arriving through the first two periods.
Askarov stopped 21 of 26 shots in 59:49. That is not a shutout-level night, but the ledger alone misses the larger imbalance. Jake Oettinger needed only 13 saves to finish the shutout, while Dallas had already put 20 shots on Askarov before the third period began.
A goaltender can surrender five and still be asked to absorb too much of the game’s pressure. That was the shape of this one.
The second period supplied the strongest evidence. Joel Kiviranta scored at 3:17, assisted by Oskar Bäck and Radek Faksa, to make it 2-0. Jamie Benn followed at 6:19, with Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz assisting. Robertson then scored unassisted at 16:30. Dallas’ three goals arrived across 13:13, but San Jose managed only five shots during the period.
That combination turned a manageable deficit into a four-goal hole. It also showed why the goalie’s total should not carry the whole explanation. Askarov faced 19 Dallas shots at even strength and stopped 14 of them.
He stopped all six power-play shots as well, while San Jose killed all three of Dallas’ opportunities. The Sharks did not lose because the penalty kill collapsed. They lost while Dallas repeatedly generated enough at 5-on-5 to keep the scoreboard moving.
Dallas had established the direction before that outburst. Miro Heiskanen scored on a backhand at 18:51 of the first period, with assists from Hintz and Benn. Dallas finished that opening period with an 11-2 edge in shots. The second-period barrage therefore expanded an existing advantage rather than rescuing the Stars from an otherwise even start.
The scoring was distributed, too. Heiskanen, Kiviranta, Benn, Robertson and Mikko Rantanen supplied the five goals, all at even strength. Benn finished with a goal and an assist, Robertson did the same, and Hintz collected two assists without scoring.
Those contributions matter because Dallas did not need one hot scorer or a power-play conversion to create separation. San Jose needed more sustained offensive pressure from somewhere, and it never found enough of it early.
