Photo credit: nhl.com/sharks

By Pearl Allison Lo

After a 4-0 shutout loss Monday, the San Jose Sharks replied strongly with eight goals the very next day, spoiling the Philadelphia Flyers’ home opener this time around. 

The Sharks broke through with their first two power plays, scored shorthanded and made a season-high 48 shots.

The Sharks’ last win came Friday when they defeated the Kings in their home opener in Los Angeles.

Sharks’ goalie Aaron Dell was stellar in his first start of the season Tuesday, making 31 saves. Sharks’ captain Joe Pavelski scored his first two goals of 2018-19, Evander Kane kept rolling with his own two and Kevin Labanc got on the assist train with four assists.

A lot of power play chances abounded again for both sides with each team having at least one penalty in each period. The Flyers went 2-for-6 and the Sharks went 2-for-5.

Philadelphia has given up at least five goals in each of their last two games

The Sharks took back the four goals they gave up Monday quickly with a 4-0 first period.

San Jose started early as Logan Couture and Pavelski got their first goals of the season 11 seconds apart starting at 3:17.  

The Sharks got the puck after a failed shot on the other end as Couture and Tomas Hertl went on an odd-man rush. Couture went five-hole from the faceoff circle to make it 1-0.

Soon after, Labanc shot at goalie Brian Elliott who made a foot save and sent the puck right to Pavelski, who buried the puck in the net.

Pavelski scored a second one at 12:21. Labanc had the primary assist again, this time from the boards, as Pavelski reacted to the pass speedily.

Kane decided he wanted in on the action and scored on the power play at 16:42. It was San Jose’s first of the season. Justin Braun shot and Kane redirected the puck with his right skate. Kane has scored in each game except when the Sharks were shut out.

The Flyers got on the board in the second but by the end of the period, they were back where they started scorewise.

Three seconds after Wayne Simmonds had a shot on goal, Shayne Gostisbehere scored on the man advantage at 4:56.

Kane followed Pavelski’s lead and regained their four-goal lead with his second of the night too as he shot from the slot to score at 14:46. The goal came six seconds after San Jose’s power play expired.

Philadelphia flurried the net at the end of the period. Jakub Voracek’s puck slid under Dell and hit the far post four seconds before the buzzer sounded.

The Sharks scored their second on the power play eight seconds into it. Erik Karlsson passed to Brent Burns on the right, who passed the puck behind him back to Karlsson. Karlsson then shot at net and Hertl got the tip. When it did not go through, Hertl made it on his second attempt.

The Flyers’ Oskar Lindblom scored, but had the goal taken back as it was achieved via a high stick.

San Jose’s Timo Meier, who celebrated a birthday Monday, found joy when he moved his stick with the puck left, right and in between Elliott’s legs to make it a 7-1 game at 15:21.

Philadelphia, while on a power play, missed a stick-to-stick connection. Marcus Sorensen took advantage and sped to the puck finished, while Barclay Goodrow finished the shorthanded play with the Sharks’ eighth goal. Shorthanded pass missed, Sorensen sped and Goodrow

28 seconds later, Simmonds got that goal back quickly on the power play, displeasure clearly etched on his face.

Game Notes: Perhaps the only negative of this game for the Sharks was that they have yet to go a period without committing a penalty.

Up Next: The Sharks will see if they can do that when they head back to New York to take on the Rangers for the fourth game of their five-game road trip Thursday at 4:00 pm PT.