The San Jose Sharks allowed two goals in the second period — including a backbreaker just before intermission — in a sluggish 4-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

The Sharks allowed even-strength goals in the second period to forwards Carl Grundstrom and Noah Cates, with Cates’ goal at the 19:48 mark giving the Flyers a 3-1 lead, as he fired a shot that got past goalie Alex Nedeljkovic on the short side.

The Sharks never recovered, losing for the fourth time in six games and dropping to 1-2-0 on their five-game road trip, which continues with stops in Toronto on Thursday and Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Flyers forward Travis Konecny scored an empty-netter with 1:44 left in the third period to round out the scoring.

Winger Collin Graf extended his goal streak to three as he scored at the 11:33 mark of the first period for a 1-0 Sharks lead. But that was the Sharks’ first shot of the game on Flyers goalie Dan Vladar, who faced just 11 shots in the first two periods.

Nedeljkovic made 26 saves as the Sharks were outshot 29-18 and, per Natural Stat Trick, allowed 12 high-danger chances while creating just five.

San Jose was outshot 16-3 in the first period and has now been outshot in 27 of 31 games this season.

Entering Tuesday, the Sharks, via points percentage (.517), held the second and final wild card spot in the Western Conference. The Flyers (15-9-3) have won four of their last six games and are in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division with 33 points, one point out of a playoff spot.

Nedeljkovic got the start on Tuesday as Yaroslav Askarov came down with an illness and had to be scratched from the lineup.

With Askarov unavailable, the Sharks signed former Colgate University goalie Justin Kowalkoski to an amateur tryout contract to back up Nedeljkovic. Kowalkoski, 39, played at Colgate from 2004 to 2008 before a brief professional career.

Nedeljkovic finished with 28 saves, including 15 in the third period, to lead the Sharks toan impressive 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh on Sunday.

Tuesday’s game marked the first time this season that Nedeljkovic has started consecutive games for the Sharks. Before Sunday, Nedeljkovic was 0-3-0 with a .870 save percentage in his last five games.

Nedeljkovic had to make 16 saves in the first period, with the only blemish being Christian Dvorak’s goal at the 18:39 mark. Travis Konecny lifted a puck into the neutral zone, where it bounced off Trevor Zegras and past Sam Dickinson, where Dvorak picked it up, went in alone, and beat Nedeljkovic for his seventh goal of the season.

**LINEUP NOTES **

Warsofsky said Timothy Liljegren, who has been on the Sharks’ top defense pair alongside Dmitry Orlov for several games this season, was questionable to play Tuesday as he dealt with a lower-body injury.

But Liljegren, who averaged 20:07 of ice time in 24 games this season before Tuesday, took his regular spot in the lineup alongside Dmitry Orlov.

Ryan Reaves, after sitting out the last two games, drew back into the Sharks’ lineup and start on the fourth line alongside Zack Ostapchuk and Barclay Goodrow.

With Reaves returning, winger Jeff Skinner will be a healthy scratch for just the second time this season. Skinner missed 10 games from Nov. 15 to Dec. 3 with a lower-body injury before returning to play the Stars and Hurricanes. Warsofsky told reporters in Philadelphia that he liked Skinner’s game in Raleigh, but that he wanted to go with a bigger lineup against a heavier Flyers team.

The only other time Skinner was a healthy scratch this season was on Oct. 26 when the Sharks beat the Minnesota Wild 6-5 in overtime. Skinner is three games shy of 1,100 for his career.