"The Sharks have endured watching painful video clips as Todd McLellan forced his players to relive one mistake after another in an effort to get his team "mentally engaged." Lesson not learned. Plagued by another 60 minutes of turnovers and juicy rebounds, the Sharks lost 5-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes at HP Pavilion on Tuesday night. "Unacceptable," McLellan said of his team's performance, "and until we buy into the right formula for a win, it's not going to change." Two second-period goals by Patrick Marleau made it close, but the 1-2-1 Sharks dug themselves a three-goal hole early, then reverted to the miscues that have been hurting them early in the season. "Every goal they scored was on our sticks for a little bit," said Sharks captain Joe Thornton, whose giveaway led to Carolina's final tally. "You're not going to win games when you're giving the other team some Grade A chances after it's on your stick. "... We're just making some mental mistakes that shouldn't happen." Sharks goalie Antti Niemi made 26 saves and was hung out to dry a few times, but he did not look particularly sharp as Carolina got goals from five players -- Eric Staal, Erik Cole, Patrick Dwyer, Chad LaRose and Joni Pitkanen. Carolina got on the scoreboard 5:56 into the game on a short-handed goal by Staal, who finished off an odd-man rush that started when Dan Boyle lost control of a bouncing puck at the blue line. Later in the period, Niemi looked good stopping a wraparound by Jeff Skinner and a slap shot by Tim Gleason in quick succession before the rebound went directly to Cole, who scored. The Hurricanes' lead grew to 3-0 at 2:43 of the second period when Sharks rookie Mike Moore, playing in his first NHL game, tried to clear the puck from behind his own net, only to see it go off LaRose's stick and right to Jussi Jokinen at the blue line. Niemi made the initial save, but the rebound went to Dwyer, who didn't miss the easy opportunity." http://www.mercurynews.com/sharks/ci_16383109
