Photo credit: San Jose Sharks
By Matthew Harrington
SAN JOSE, Calif. – There are going to be a large number of San Jose Sharks fans standing around the water cooler tomorrow morning talk about turning the TV off in the middle of another Sharks blowout. They’ll talk about how it was déjà vu, the Sharks getting blown out for the third-straight game after losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals by a combined 9-3 margin then falling behind to the visiting Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 after 20 minutes at home Thursday night.
“It’s not how we would draw it up to start a game,” said Sharks coach Peter DeBoer. “We dug ourselves out of a hole. You’re going to win all kinds of different ways over 82 games in this league.”
But something special happened. Or rather something special teams happened. The Sharks scored a pair of power play goals and shorthanded goals to overcome a 3-0 deficit, forcing overtime against the visiting Canes. A storybook comeback deserves a happy ending, so Brent Burns scored just 22 seconds into overtime to cap a furious 5-4 Sharks comeback. Burns, the third Sharks’ skater to enter the offensive zone, skated around Sebastian Aho to pick up the puck in close and beat goaltender Cam Ward for his second goal of the year.
Joe Thornton moved up the all-time points list with two points (one goal, one assist). Barclay Goodrow, Logan Couture and Melker Karlsson also scored for San Jose, while Paul Martin returned to the lineup finishing with a +/- of -2.
“It was his first game back,” said DeBoer. “It looked like it was his first game back, trying to get some of the rust off. I don’t think that was the story of the game.”
Trailing 3-0 heading into the second period, the Sharks used the second-best penalty kill in the league to break up Cam Ward’s shutout. Melker Karlsson fed Chris Tierney to start a two-on-one rush down the ice. Tierney returned the favor, feeding Karlsson right on the opposite post. Karlsson’s blistering up-close shot ricocheted off the back of the net and out for his fourth of the year in his first game back in the lineup since December 1st.
“Coach [Peter DeBoer] said if we can get one it would change the momentum of the game,” said Thornton. “It definitely did.”
The Hurricanes briefly stymied the momentum the Sharks were gaining after Karlsson’s shorty, striking after a lax defensive effort around their own net. The Hurricanes managed to fire off a number of in-tight shots on Jones with the puck bouncing throughout the goal area with Jeff Skinner ultimately pushing the puck through a pile of bodies for a 4-1 Carolina lead with 5:16 left in the period.
The other half of San Jose’s special teams stepped up to cut the Carolina lead to two with Joe Thornton scoring a power play goal with 2:09 left in the period after Trevor Van Riemsdyk was given the gate for holding the stick in a scramble. The Sharks man-advantage entered the game tied for 24th in the league with a 16.7 percent success rate.
The power play did it again in the third period, using crisp passing by Brent Burns to set up a one-timer for Logan Couture. Joe Thornton picked up the secondary assist to help the Sharks pull within one 4-3 with 11:29 left to play. The helper pushed Thornton to 19th place on the all-time points list, tied with Dale Hawerchuk and his 1,409 career points.
“We haven’t been getting any,” said Thornton on power play opportunities. “It’s tough to get into a rhythm when you’re not getting any. Tonight we could finally get into a rhythm getting 3 power play chances. It’s nice to see you score some goals.”
The PK had to catch up to the PP goal-for-goal, so Barclay Goodrow did the trick, tying the game with 8:04 left in regulation. Jannik Hansen led the rush up the ice, but it was Goodrow’s hustle to beat two Hurricanes skaters across the blue line for a breakaway on Ward that made the difference.
“That’s what guys have to do to try to stay in the lineup,” said DeBoer. “He’s playing with that desperation.”
The comeback was great, but San Jose video coach Dan Darrow might as well delete any footage from the first period after a listless start domed the home team. The Hurricanes took advantage of a sleepwalking Sharks club, with defenseman Noah Hanifin crashing from his spot on the blue line to wind up in the slot unfettered. Hanifin took Derek Ryan’s pass from below the faceoff dot and rifled a one-timer that Jones saved. The rebound bounced to Sebastian Aho though, who beat Jones 9:10 into the period for a 1-0 lead.
The Canes capitalized on a rare bad break from Marc-Edouard Vlasic whose clearing attempt aimed at the boards deflected into the slot instead. Center Elias Lindholm came up with the puck, then passed it to Victor Rask just inside the faceoff dot to Jones’ left. Rask fired the one-timer home for a 2-0 Carolina lead 11:37 into the period.
Aho pulled a similar move to Hanifin’s earlier in the game to score his second of the match. The winger slid into the slot alone, took a pass from Teuvo Teravainen and potted his second of the game and seventh of the season with 5:46 left in the frame. Despite the three goals, the Hurricanes only produced five shots on goal in the period to the Shark’s six and looked well on their way to a win.
“With the travel we’ve had over the last week or two it hasn’t been easy at times,” said Sharks captain Joe Pavelski. “It’s not an excuse. It took a few shifts to get it out of us.”
The five-goal performance Thursday might prove to be a preview for the weekend slate for the Sharks. San Jose will welcome a pair of opponents prone to giving up crooked numbers to the Shark Tank over the weekend, with the Ottawa Senators and Minnesota Wild making stops in Northern California over the weekend. Ottawa is currently sixth in the league, allowing 3.27 goals per game while the Wild allow 3, good for 13th place.
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