SAN JOSE — The Sharks finished with 32 shots Wednesday night, and had more than enough scoring chances to finally pull out a win on their extended homestand.

But the end result was just another defeat for the Sharks, their fourth straight and fifth in six games, as the search for an answer to their offensive woes continued after a 2-0 loss to the Calgary Flames.

The Sharks are 0-1-2 in the first three games of this six-game homestand, in which they have never held a lead and have scored just five goals.

Jiri Hudler scored twice for the Flames, who are in third place in the Pacific Division with 30 points, six more than the fifth-place Sharks.

“Every game’s critical. Not by any means can we put anything on cruise control and let a game slip here and there,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “We’re in the thick of it right now. The rest of this homestand is critical, but so are the next two road games, and the games after that.

“We’re an everyday team right now, just scrambling to the point where we can get our heads above water.”

Besides the 32 shots on net, the Sharks had 30 shot attempts blocked, with Brent Burns having nine of his attempts blocked by the Flames.

“That will affect our offensive outcome,” McLellan said. “We’ll have to look at that and try to find a way to fix it.”

The Sharks have not held a lead in a game since they went up 1-0 in the first period against the Carolina Hurricanes on Nov. 16. Not surprisingly, the Sharks were beaten in ensuing games against Buffalo, Florida, Arizona and now Calgary.

“The harder we try right now,” Sharks forward Joe Pavelski said, “it’s like the worse it’s going.”

Playing 4 on 4 late in the second period, the Sharks could not get the puck out of their own zone and Calgary capitalized, with Hudler scoring off a pass from T.J. Brodie. At the time of the goal, forward Patrick Marleau and defensemen Matt Tennyson and Brenden Dillon had been on ice for 1 minute and 11 seconds.

“We were stuck out there for a while,” Marleau said. “Bouncing pucks, things like that. That’s where you take that extra second to corral it and make sure it gets out.”

The Sharks had 11 shots on net in the second period, with their best chances coming off the stick of Marleau. His wrist shot with 13:40 left in the second was saved by Flames goalie Karri Ramo with his blocker. Then with 8:01 left in the second, a Marleau shot went off the crossbar.

With just over seven minutes left in the third period, Burns fed Marleau right at the side of the Flames net, but Marleau couldn’t get a good shot.

“I think the chances are there,” Marleau said. “Hopefully it’s like a buildup of a dam, and it’s going to break soon and we’ll start getting on a winning streak.”

San Jose was hoping to get a boost from its power play Wednesday. The Sharks entered the game with goals in three straight games with the man advantage, and the Flames were ranked 29th in the NHL on the penalty kill. But the Sharks finished 0 for 2 on the power play.

The Sharks signed goalie Ryan Lowe to an emergency professional tryout contract Wednesday after they learned Troy Grosenick would be unable to play because of an upper body injury. Grosenick suffered the injury Tuesday during practice. With Alex Stalock still on injured reserve, the Sharks searched for an emergency goalie and found Lowe, 31, who last professionally in Australia in 2013. Lowe played hockey for San Jose State.