By Ivan Makarov

SAN JOSE, CA — Sharks forward Matt Nieto must be a one patient player. Having scored a goal in the very game of the season, he had to wait two months to start scoring again. He worked and played hard during that dry stretch, and the coaches never lost their faith in him. All this is paying off, as he scored the most important goal for the Sharks in the second game in a row.

Much like in the last game against Anaheim Ducks, Nieto’s moment of the night against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers came at the very end of the game.

With the score tied 1-1 and only 12 second left to play before the end of the regulation, Sharks forward Patrick Marleau took away the puck at the Flyers blue line and brought it all the way near the net. He shot the puck on target, but Steve Mason made the safe. Tommy Wingels attempted to grab a rebound, but missed while taking out a defender with him. Mason was laying on the ice at that point and Nieto jumped first to the puck, putting it on what was almost an empty net.

“He made a tremendous read in the neutral zone, created a turnover and, it wasn’t the first follow up by Wingels, it was the second one,” noted Sharks head coach Todd McLellan in his post game comments. “So give him credit for sticking with it. I thought that was the way the night went.”

Nieto was likewise positive and grateful for how his play is turning out.

“Last game I got an empty-netter, and even though it didn’t seem like much, it was a huge confidence builder. [The goals] come in bunches, so I’ve been patient all year and just tried to stick to my game. [I’m] glad to see that it’s paying off the last two games.”

And Sharks did have to patient in this game, because they started out weak and did not look all that good for a while.

Flyers got an early lead in the game when their young forward Sean Couturier scored on the first power play of the game when Jason Sheppard was in the box. Couturier shot the puck high from just above the face off circle and it was a shot that proved to be too much for Antti Niemi.

Sharks had just six shots on the net in that period versus 16 for the Flyers.

They fixed some of the weaknesses in their game in the second period by playing a better transition game and being more physical, but it wasn’t until the the end of the second period that they finally tied the game on a goal by Marc-Edouard Vlasic who jumped into the attack when he got a great feed from Tommy Wingels, and put the puck top shelf from close range.

“I joined the rush, Wingels made a nice play and I put it in the back of the net,” recapped Vlasic. “I knew Giroux was behind me, so I knew I could jump up and beat him. And I did that.”

Sharks continued their physical play in the third period, but had to wait until the very end to turn the tables and earn the two points, despite having other scoring chances in that period, with none better than a breakaway attempt by Andrew Desjardins where he beat Mason but missed the net.

“We weren’t very good in the first period, I think that was obvious,” said McLellan. “But we stuck with it and got a little better as the night went on. Good to see those results.”

Sharks will finish the six game home stand on Thursday when they face off against the visiting Boston Bruins.

NOTES

– Logan Couture left the game early in the third period and did not return after an accidental collision with one of the Flyers players and what appears to be a hit to the head
– Sharks outhit the Flyers 38 to 27