Jabber Jaws: Kahkonen, “Everybody has to do their job for us to have success.”

Despite hopes of being able to string together a few wins after Thursday’s 3-2 overtime win against the New York Rangers, the San Jose Sharks couldn’t quite get it done in the Garden State, losing 2-1 to the New Jersey Devils.

New Jersey’s first goal from Nico Hischier was called back after video review called it a “distinct kicking motion,” but the Devils responded with two goals in short order. The first came from Yegor Sharangovich after he stripped the puck from Marc-Edouard Vlasic and turned it into a breakaway. The second goal came during the power play when Dawson Mercer cleaned up his own rebound in front of Kahkonen, breaking through the Sharks’ flawless penalty kill record. The lone response goal came from Kevin Labanc with a snipe across the crease. Though the Sharks had a flurry of shot attempts in the final 18 seconds of the game, the efforts came too late, culminating in the sixth loss of the season.

Following the loss, head coach David Quinn, goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen and winger Kevin Labanc took to the mic to address high-danger chances, sorting out the second period, and moving into the back-to-back against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Here’s what they had to say:

David Quinn

On Hertl and Meier: If you talk to them, they’re frustrated. Sometimes, when scorers don’t get awarded or get points, they become consumed with it. That’s something they’re going to have to work through. They’re great players, and we’re going to need them moving forward. Obviously, they’re frustrated from an offensive standpoint, they just haven’t gotten the results they were looking for or we’re looking for.

You want to impact the game so much, you want to help your team so much, sometimes you force things.

On Kahkonen: Very good. He played really well, made some huge saves, in particular during the second period where we were sloppy and they had chances. He gave us a chance.

On second period woes: There’s definitely something in the second period [laughter]. Something that’s been a problem, and we’ll just keep working on it.

On giving up high-danger chances: We haven’t given up those types of chances since the Carolina game. When you turn the puck over the way that we did, you’re not structured offensively, and you’re going to be burned. That’s kind of what happened. When you turn it over like that, that’s where the chances come from. That was the core of our problem from a defensive structure.

On sorting out the rest of the game: We have to play with that type of urgency [like the last four minutes]. I hate to use the word desperation — you don’t want to play desperate hockey, you want to play urgent hockey. We just waited too long.

On Labanc: He knows what he has to do and he did it tonight — played with a little bit of an edge. He’s got to be a guy that impacts the game when he’s not scoring goals. I think he had a good night.

Kevin Labanc

On the coaching staff’s message: We kind of gave up two points — we had a good fifteen, then in the second period we kind of let the game go, but we were still in it. We just didn’t really create as many chances as we would have liked. But this game is behind us, we have to get ready for Philly and make sure that everyone’s ready. Those are two points we can end off this road trip with.

I had some good backchecks, blocked a shot there in the third. I was just trying to hound the puck, be more tenacious. I think I did that, but it obviously wasn’t enough. It’s just that mindset of getting ready to do that consistently every game.

On his goal: It was a face-off play Lindy wanted. I’m not sure who — I think it was Harrington or Simmer — kind of chipped it up the boards and got it by the D, skated it down and let that one go. It felt nice to get that one.

On the back half of the game: It wasn’t the Devils [making it hard], it was more us. We weren’t doing enough forechecking, we weren’t hitting enough, having good sticks. You do the little things right, they’ll add up to offensive chances going the other way. We’d be up for one or two shifts and then you wouldn’t see offensive production for three or four, so we just need that consistently rolling through all four lines. You know, it’s no excuse, we have to be ready from the get go. Tomorrow in Philly, we just have to make sure to be careful of our bodies, rest up and be ready.

Kaapo Kahkonen

On his play: It felt pretty good, I think. They had a bit of a push in the second and we weathered the storm a bit, got out of it, and that’s what you have to do sometimes. You have to give yourself a chance to go out in the third and try to tie the game. We had a good effort there in the end, but just couldn’t get one.

On moving forward: At the end of the day, it’s the points that matter. It doesn’t matter if someone scores a hat trick and you lose a game or somebody plays a good game defensively — everybody has to do their job for us to have success, and that’s obviously what everyone is trying to do.

*Lightly edited for clarity.