Did Tomas Tatar curse this team? Ever since they traded him on February 26th, the Wings haven’t won a game. Last night, they dropped their seventh straight as they kicked off their West Coast road trip against the San Jose Sharks. The final score was 5-3 as the Wings let in three goals or more for the sixth straight game.

They had a good start to the game, quickly getting eight shots on goal. There was hope for a win in the first period as they scored the game’s first goal on a beautiful snipe by Trevor Daley from the slot.

From that point on, the period was owned by the Sharks as it felt like Detroit was just chasing the puck around their own zone. Just past the halfway mark of the period, Joonas Donskoi tied the game at 1 on a beautiful passing play.

Then, Eric Fehr scored his first as a Shark a mere two minutes later.

The first period ended with the Sharks ahead in the goal department and having out-shot the Wings 12-9.

They added to the onslaught early in the second period as Kevin Labanc extended the San Jose lead to two goals followed up on a rebound and banged a dirty one past Howard.

The Wings weren’t ready to lay down and die, though. Gus Nyquist brought them back within one on a follow-up from a Trevor Daley shot from the point. The shot beat Martin Jones, but didn’t make it far enough into the net. Nyquist banged it home to bring the Wings within one.

Overall, it was a much better period for the Wings as they out-shot the Sharks 11-9. They were trending in the right direction for the third, but you know how this team is in third periods. They were out-shot 13-6 as the Sharks extended their lead again. Timo Meier had Jimmy Howard screened and just barely tipped the puck with his stick to beat the Detroit netminder.

The Wings did score one more time on a beautiful pass from Nyquist to Zetterberg. It was Z’s second point of the night.

But it wouldn’t be enough. Chris Tierney added an empty-netter to seal the deal and the Sharks closed this one out 5-3, with five goals from five different players.

Like I said, the Wings got off to a good start, but it was all downhill from there as the Sharks dominated the rest of the game. The Wings actually finished with the better CF% at 5-on-5, but this was because of their dominant second period, where they out-attempted the Sharks 17-11. What really sunk them was the third period – again. It’s a pretty well-known fact that if you don’t play a full sixty minutes, you won’t win hockey games. Detroit’s effort as of late has been less than stellar and the results show.

Last night’s Motor City MVP is Tyler Bertuzzi. The young, feisty winger had assists on all three of his team’s goals as he saw time on the top line with Zetterberg and Nyquist. Zetterberg and Dailey each had two points as the top-line was the only line with any production. Just goes to show that if you put someone like Bertuzzi in a good position, he will be successful. He’s been one of the more exciting parts of Detroit’s season and continues to be a joy to watch.

The Wings get a few days off in sunny California before facing the Kings in Los Angeles on Thursday night. It will be the first half of their California back-to-back. Puck drop is (painfully) at 10:00 P.M. ET and you’ll be able to watch the game on Fox Sports Detroit, NBCSN, or Sportsnet 360 from Canada.

As always, Brock Seguin will have your pre-game report early Thursday afternoon.