GAME: Florida Panthers (17-22-11-3) at San Jose Sharks (24-13-11-5).

TIME: Tuesday, 10:30 p.m. EST.

The San Jose Sharks try to avoid losing three straight games for the first time this season when they host the Florida Panthers.

San Jose had won six of seven entering a two-game road trip on Friday, but went on to lose both contests.

The Sharks fell 3-1 to the Dallas Stars on Friday before losing 3-2 in overtime Saturday to the Nashville Predators. San Jose hasn't dropped three in a row since March 8-11 of last season.

The Sharks took a 2-1 lead late in the second period Saturday, but Nashville tied it at 7:22 of the third before netting the winner with just 16 seconds left in overtime.

"We had our opportunities to put the game away, and unfortunately, we didn't," said San Jose coach Ron Wilson, whose team owns a three-point lead over Dallas for first place in the Pacific Division.

"When you don't finish a team, if somebody's a little off or makes a mental mistake, they are going to get paid back in spades."

Florida had a chance to finish off its opponent in its last game, but allowed the New York Islanders to score three third-period goals in a 4-2 road loss on Saturday.

The Panthers, 0-2-1 in their last three, could've closed the gap on the Islanders in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Instead, Florida now trails eighth-place New York by nine points.

"It's frustrating," Panthers forward Byron Ritchie said. "This game meant a lot in the playoff race. We played well for two periods. I don't know what happened in the third period. We seem to give up a lot of chances when we have the lead. We might have had a mental collapse."

Florida, which concludes its three-game trip on Wednesday against the Phoenix Coyotes, is 0-4-1 in its last five games against San Jose.