San Jose Sharks need a game they can be proud of on Patrick Marleau’s big night

Nothing is going to diminish Patrick Marleau’s historic achievement Monday night when the Sharks play the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena and he becomes the NHL’s sole career leader in games played.

With 1,768 regular season games to his credit by that point, Marleau will be setting a new standard for durability and perseverance in the NHL that may never be surpassed.

It would be preferable from the Sharks perspective, though, to at least show up with a more complete performance for three periods than they did against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night, when Marleau tied Gordie Howe on the NHL’s all-time list with his 1,767th career game.

Once again, the Sharks could not prevent the Wild from scoring another barrage of goals in a short amount of time, allowing three in just a 72-second span midway through the first period. Predictably, the Sharks never recovered and were pasted 5-2 by the Wild at Xcel Energy Center, suffering their season-worst fifth straight loss.

It’s a crisis of confidence right now for the Sharks, who are at the low point of their season. And if Marleau’s historical moment Saturday wasn’t enough to give the Sharks a lasting emotional boost, will it be any different Monday?

We’ll see. But it won’t be any easier, that’s for sure.

Vegas has owned the formerly competitive rivalry over the past two seasons, going 3-0-1 against San Jose last season and 5-0-0 so far this season.

Prior to its game with the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday, the Golden Knights had won five straight and six of seven to remain two points back of the Colorado Avalanche for first place in the West Division.

“Monday, there’s going to be two separate kind of feelings,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. “It’s going to be the honor of being in that game and watching Patty set history. The other part is us playing well with him, and being proud of ourselves for the way we played.

“For me, that’s the biggest thing right now. If we play our game, if we play well, we’ll give ourselves a chance to win and that’s what we intend to do on Monday for that big night, and hopefully cap it off for Patty and his family the right way.”

This two-game series could get ugly if the Sharks’ aren’t careful, and although Marleau’s night on will stand as its own historical moment, it would feel a little better for everyone in teal if the Sharks played than they did Saturday.

“It’s disappointing to play a game like that any night,” Sharks defenseman Brent Burns said. “Obviously, what (Marleau) is doing is special and it’s beyond one game. Tonight was obviously big for him. It’s big for all of us to be a part of something like that.”

“I’ll try to take it all in as much as possible,” Marleau said Saturday of Monday’s game. “The fun part is playing an actual game and all that, but my family’s going to be there to help celebrate, so it’ll be super special having them in the building.”

MEIER, LABANC IN DOGHOUSE: Boughner did not mince words when asked about moving both Timo Meier and Kevin Labanc down to the fourth line after their performance early in Saturday’s game.

Meier started on the third line with Dylan Gambrell and Marcus Sorensen and Labanc was with Evander Kane and Logan Couture. They finished the game on the same line with Joel Kellman at center.

“They were both horrible in the first period. They didn’t deserve to play in the top six or the top nine, for that matter,” Boughner said. “So I just made a decision after the first period — if you’re not ready to play, put both those guys on the same line then and let them try and figure it out down there.

“That was disappointing for me,” Boughner said, “especially, (with) the importance of the games.”

Despite their woeful record over the past two weeks, the Sharks, with a win, could have moved within three points of the Arizona Coyotes for fourth place in the West Division.

On Joel Eriksson Ek’s goal which gave the Wild a 2-1 lead, Erik Karlsson was pinching at the blue line trying to keep the puck in Minnesota Zone. Meier, who was well away from the puck near the center ice dot, lost track of Jordan Greenway behind him, setting up a Wild 3-on-1.

“Timo was supposed to cover (for Karlsson) and he turned the wrong way,” Boughner said. “If you’re not going to commit to (those details), you’re just not going to play in the positions that you want. We had a couple passengers early and it’s unacceptable, and those are just two of them.”