2011 - 12 San Jose Sharks season The 2011 – 12 San Jose Sharks season was the ice hockey club ' s 21st season in the NHL . Offseason . The Sharks , disappointed in their playoff results , traded away two major players of their team to the Minnesota Wild . Devin Setoguchi was traded for Brent Burns , and Dany Heatley was traded for Martin Havlat . Burns was targeted to fill a hole on the Sharks as a shut - down defensive presence . Heatley was traded after posting disappointing playoff results . Season recap . Regular season . The preseason was successful , ending in a 5 – 1 – 0 record with the only loss came to Phoenix . The Sharks started the season rather slowly ; they gained a win at their opener at home against Phoenix but then lost three straight . Afterwards , the Sharks won the first five games on their six - game road trip . The win at New Jersey came on a shootout , with Joe Thornton participating in his 1000th NHL career game , and the win at New York by a sudden - death goal from Brent Burns , so the Sharks won both games that went into overtime . They ended this road trip with a loss at New York before heading back home for a six - game stand . The first one was a win after shootout against the Pittsburgh Penguins before losing the first game after overtime to Nashville before the next two games were won . The home stand ended with five wins and only one loss , coming against Phoenix . The Sharks took over the first position in the Pacific Division in November and had 13 wins in the books after 20 games . After that , the Sharks lost four out of five with the only win coming to Montreal by shootouts . The Sharks just won one of the next five games , before they went on a four - game winning streak to take the top spot in the Pacific Division over Christmas . December was finished with two losses to Anaheim and Vancouver . The new year started with two wins on the road , another one at home and the number 1 spot in the division . After an overtime loss at Minnesota the Sharks captured their second shootout victory in a 2 – 0 win over Winnipeg . January was ended with two shootouts by Antti Niemi and at top of their division . February included a nine - game road trip where the Sharks would go 2 – 6 – 1 . The Sharks clinched a playoff spot on the fifth of April - in their 81st game of the regular season - with a 6 – 5 shootout victory against Los Angeles . Playoffs . In the playoffs , the Sharks faced the St . Louis Blues , a number 2 seed , in the first round , the conference quarterfinals in a best - of - seven series . The Sharks won Game 1 by a score of 3 – 2 after double overtime by a goal from Martin Havlát who scored twice , with Andrew Desjardins sent this game into overtime with his goal 5 minutes before the end of regulation . Game two was won by the Blues , who scored once every period , 3 – 0 . St . Louis continued their dominance by posting a 4 – 3 victory in Game 3 , with two of the three goals by the Sharks coming in the waning minutes of the third period . The Blues then won a second straight game in San Jose , in Game 4 , by a score of 2 – 1 . The Blues led the series 3 to 1 . With coming back over to St . Louis the Sharks went into the third period with a lead , thanks to a goal from Joe Thornton . The Blues answered with two quick goals in the middle of the last period and scored another goal late in the game to capture the series 4 – 1 . Schedule and results . Playoffs . The Sharks clinched a playoff spot and made their eighth consecutive appearance in the playoffs . Player stats . Skaters . " Note : GP = Games played ; G = Goals ; A = Assists ; Pts = Points ; + / − = Plus / Minus ; PIM = Penalty Minutes " < br > < br > Goaltenders . GP = Games Played ; MIN = Time On Ice in minutes ; W = Wins ; L = Losses ; OT = Overtime Losses ; GA = Goals Against ; GAA = Goals Against Average ; SA = Shots Against ; SV = Saves ; SV % = Save Percentage ; SO = Shutouts ; G = Goals ; A = Assists ; PEN = Penalty Time in minutes Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Sharks . Stats reflect time with the Sharks only . Traded mid - season Bold / italics denotes franchise record Final roster . < br > Transactions . The Sharks have been involved in the following transactions during the 2011 – 12 season . Draft picks . San Jose ' s picks at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft in St . Paul , Minnesota .