SAN JOSE >> Few NHL teams, it seems, need some time away from the rink more than the San Jose Sharks.

In their last game before the league pauses its schedule for two weeks to hold the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Sharks gave up three goals in a lopsided first period and never fully recovered in an 8-3 loss to the playoff-bound Dallas Stars on Saturday at SAP Center.

After taking a 2-0 lead on goals by William Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund, the Sharks allowed goals to Matt Duchene, Jason Robertson and Mason Marchment in 10 minutes, 22 seconds to fall behind for good, as they went on to lose for the 10th time in the last 11 games. The Sharks are now off for over a week before they are scheduled to return to practice. They’ll then begin to prepare for the final 25 games of the regular season, which could include more final scores like the one Saturday’s sellout crowd had to endure.

“We stopped playing,” Eklund said. “We played their game, and we know we’re not skilled enough to play their game right now. We’ve got to stick to our game. We do that for 5-10 minutes, but (that’s not enough).”

Sharks goalie Vitek Vanecek was under siege early on as he faced 16 shots in the first period. In his second NHL start since sustaining a fractured cheekbone in mid-December, Vanecek allowed eight goals on the first 31 shots he faced as his record this season fell to 3-9-2.

The eight goals the Sharks allowed were the most they’ve given up in a home game this season.

“We gave up eight goals. You’ve got to be frustrated,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “It’s the National Hockey League. We should all be frustrated. We should all be (upset) and embarrassed. This is our life. This is what we do, and you give up eight goals.

“Doesn’t matter what team is over there. It’s not good enough.”

Macklin Celebrini, who might wear a letter with the Sharks as soon as next season, took some ownership of what happened Saturday, as he was listed as having three of the Sharks’ 20 giveaways against the Stars.

“Our coaches preach on it, and I take full responsibility,” Celebrini said. “I’m giving up too many pucks. I’m trying to make a play, but sometimes it’s not there. Against a team like that, the quick transition, and coaches have told us that we can’t give away pucks against teams like that, and I did.

“That’s something I’ve got to learn to be better with. All in all, we need to clean that up, but that starts with me. I wasn’t good enough.”

The game further illustrated the enormous gulf between the Sharks and Stanley Cup-contending teams like the Stars.

While the Stars are icing a deep lineup, allowing them to keep coming at their opponents for 60 minutes with all four lines, the younger Sharks are paper thin by comparison. While San Jose has plenty of blue-collar-type players, they lack the overall skill -- both up front and on the back end -- to match up with the NHL’s best teams.

After Saturday, the Sharks are 31st in the NHL in goals scored per game (2.60), and 32nd in goals allowed (3.72). Little wonder, then, that they’re in last place in the NHL’s overall standings with 37 points, four points back of the 31st-place Chicago Blackhawks.

“They’re one of the best hockey teams in the league, and there’s a reason why -- they play the right way,” Celebrini said. “They make the right plays. They know how to win.”

The game marked the first for Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci back in San Jose since the Sharks traded them to the Stars on Feb. 1. Granlund and Ceci, both pending unrestricted free agents, went to Dallas in exchange for two 2025 draft picks, including a first-rounder.

In three games with the Stars before Saturday, Granlund had two assists and was averaging 18:11 in ice time, and Ceci, filling in for the injured Miro Heiskanen, had one assist and was averaging 21:36 in ice time.

Saturday, Granlund had two assists in the first period, with one on Matt Duchene’s first goal at the 3:02 mark and Marchment’s goal at the 13:24 mark, giving the Stars a 3-2 lead.

Since the trade, Dallas is 2-1-1, and the Sharks are 0-2-1. The Stars, who advanced to the Western Conference Finals each of the last two seasons, entered Saturday in second place in the Central Division standings.