Through the early part of the season http://www.coyotesproshop.com/authentic … ski-jersey , the San Jose Sharks have had a hard time holding leads and closing out opponents. After a disappointing road trip, San Jose looks to reverse those trends on Thursday night against the Buffalo Sabres.The Sharks are back at SAP Center after dropping three of five, capped by a 3-2 setback to the New Jersey Devils on Sunday. In three losses, San Jose (2-3-1) either let leads slip away or failed to capitalize before a contest was out of reach.Article continues below ...“We’re not scoring enough and not getting enough saves; it’s a bad combination,” coach Peter DeBoer said after the game in New Jersey.The Sharks surrendered three third-period goals in a 4-0 loss to the New York Islanders on Oct. 8. Three nights later, San Jose yielded the tying goal in the third before falling in overtime to the New York Rangers. DeBoer’s club then gave up two goals in the final 20 minutes of the loss to the Devils.In the opening game of the trip on Oct. 5, the Sharks wasted an early two-goal lead before beating the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in overtime.But San Jose’s struggles go beyond end results. One facet of the club’s special teams unit is struggling while another is flourishing. The Sharks are 2 for 21 with the man advantage, but also has three short-handed goals this season. The club registered eight such tallies in 2017-18.“We have to find a way to get another goal a night, and part of that is power play and part of that is 5-on-5,” said DeBoer. “We have to find a way to get another save a night. Part of that is defending a little tighter and part of that is getting another save.” One player off to a solid start is San Jose winger Evander Kane, and he’s scheduled to face the team that traded him away last winter for the first time.Selected fourth overall in the 2009 NHL Draft Christian Dvorak Jersey , Kane never lived up to high expectations in nine-plus seasons with three clubs before being dealt to the Sharks in February.But Kane provided an immediate boost for San Jose. In 17 games, he collected nine goals — including a career-high four against the Calgary Flames on March 16. In his first playoff action, the 27-year-old notched four goals in nine contests, but the Sharks lost in the second round to the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in six games.Kane, who signed a seven-year contract extension in May, leads the Sharks with four goals and is tied with Kevin Labanc for the team lead with five points.Buffalo has split the first two games of a five-game swing after falling 4-1 to Vegas on Tuesday. Vladimir Sobotka scored in the final minute to help the Sabres avoid being blanked for the second time this season.“We’ve got to make sure our execution has to be ready when the puck drops,” coach Phil Housley told the Buffalo News. “Not 10 minutes into the game or at the end of the first period.”Even with the loss, Buffalo is 6-1-1 in its last eight road games against Pacific Division foes. However, the Sharks swept both meetings in 2017-18 and are looking for their fourth straight win in the series.Sobotka, who is playing with his first Eastern Conference team after nine seasons with the St. Louis Blues, has eight points in his last eight matchups versus the Sharks. The native of the Czech Republic registered the only hat trick of his NHL career on March 9 http://www.coyotesproshop.com/authentic … ler-jersey , 2013, in San Jose.While Carter Hutton has struggled with nine goals allowed in his last two games, the Sabres’ new starting netminder could be poised for a bounce-back game. Hutton is 4-1-1 with a 1.32 goals-against average and .955 save percentage in his career against San Jose.Linus Ullmark, who earned his first NHL shutout last Saturday by making 36 saves in a 3-0 win over the Arizona Coyotes, has never faced the Sharks. DALLAS (AP) Tyler Seguin’s first 40-goal season likely will end with the Dallas Stars missing the playoffs for the second straight year.And the win that came with the high-scoring forward’s personal milestone is a little too late for their dwindling postseason hopes.Seguin’s empty-netter in the final minute put him at 40 after John Klingberg scored a goal while adding to his NHL-leading assist total for defensemen in a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night.Jason Spezza scored a goal for the first time since Jan. 16 as the Stars won for just the second time in 11 games – a slide that wiped out any realistic playoff hopes and left their fate in the hands of St. Louis, Anaheim and Colorado.Seguin was the sudden star at the end of the home finale when his shot from behind his own blue line made him the third Dallas player to reach 40 goals in a season on the night that the first, franchise icon Mike Modano, dropped the ceremonial first puck as part of the club celebrating 25 years in Texas.”What he’s done this year I’m really proud of him,” said goalie Kari Lehtonen, who stopped 33 shots. ”He’s taken a role as a complete 200-foot player. I didn’t even know it was the first time. I feel like he does something like that every year.”The Wild, still holding the third playoff spot in the Central Division and in solid wild-card shape with four games remaining Youth Derek Stepan Jersey , lost the second of a home-and-home set two nights after beating the Stars 5-2 in Minnesota.Minnesota’s season-best seven-game point streak ended in the sixth straight game that the Wild gave up the first goal.”You can’t keep giving up leads, letting the other team score the first goal and expect to win every time,” coach Bruce Boudreau said. ”It’s hard to keep pace in the game.”Seguin and Jamie Benn assisted on Klingberg’s eighth of the season for a 2-0 lead in the second period.Klingberg had his career-best 56th assist on the first-period goal by Spezza, who took a pass from Alexander Radulov ahead of the defense before his shot from close range trickled under the right left of Devan Dubnyk, who had 32 saves.The Wild are still in good shape with 96 points but could use another win to erase any doubt.”We don’t want to start thinking about the situation down the road,” Dubnyk said. ”We’ve done a good job not doing that all year, so now’s not the time to start doing it.”Radek Faksa scored short-handed for Dallas 19 seconds into the third period, but Zach Parise answered with a power-play goal 70 seconds later. The Stars’ Remi Elie had taken a holding penalty late in the second.Mikael Granlund topped last season’s career high with his 44th assist on Parise’s goal.NOTES: Wild D Ryan Suter went off with a lower-body injury late in the second period. He wasn’t using his right leg as he was helped through the tunnel to the locker room. ”I hope it’s not as bad as it looked when he was coming off,” Boudreau said. … Spezza has eight goals in 75 games. His previous low when playing at least 75 games was 22 goals in 2003-04, the 34-year-old’s first full season in the NHL.UP NEXTWild: Final home game of the regular season Monday against Edmonton.Stars: Start of season-ending three-game West Coast trip Tuesday at San Jose.—