Photo credit: mercurynews.com
By Pearl Allison Lo
After sitting on the pine without a team, 40-year old Patrick Marleau scored twice versus the Chicago Blackhawks Thursday in his return, as the San Jose Sharks, hungry for a win, were finally successful.
Chicago remained winless this time, but it was only their second game.
The Sharks got their first lead of the season with Barclay Goodrow at 4:47 of the third, which would prove to be the game-winner.
With the question of Mr. San Jose’s presence making a difference in the air, it would take a bit of time. The Sharks still gave up the first goal within the first 10 minutes and every time they scored, the Blackhawks had an answer.
However, while the number of goals given up stayed the same, San Jose improved on their number of goals (four) and power play goals (two), both season-highs. They also kept up with their opponent’s scoring as the result of the contest went down to the wire. San Jose goalie Aaron Dell made 26 saves, including one against Alex DeBrincat with less seconds than the fingers on your hand.
The Sharks’ Brent Burns earned his 200th career goal and Kevin Labanc also tallied.
For Chicago, Andrew Shaw put in a pair of goals too. Dylan Strome and Dominik Kubalik chimed in with a goal apiece.
The teams traded goals for the majority of the game and combined for eight goals split evenly between the first two periods.
It was familiar territory for San Jose as Kubalik notched his first NHL goal from between the faceoff circle and the goal line at 5:07 of the opening period. David Kampf missed a shot and Dell stopped three shots beforehand.
The Sharks replied with their second power-play opening goal in as many games. Labanc angled his shot at 11:30 right at the red line.
Shaw scored his first goal at 13:22 on his third attempt.
Marleau would even things again plus add another power play goal before time expired, tipping Erik Karlsson’s shot at 19:43.
Shaw added his second at 9:27 after DeBrincat stole the puck from Karlsson.
Responding in a whopping 33 seconds, Burns took his shot from the red line with his back to the boards and his career goal went in off the stick of Connor Murphy. Dylan Gambrell had his second assist, his third in two games.
Dylan Strome made it 4-3 at 12:14 when the Blackhawks outnumbered San Jose heading to the net.
Marleau would finish another period evening for his team when fished the puck from the boards, followed it and won the hard battle up front at 17:46.
Before the game-winner, Goodrow took the pass from Joe Thornton around the net and waited before beating goalie Corey Crawford.
Dell and the Sharks weathered a Karlsson giveaway, killed off a penalty where Vlasic critically blocked a shot from Patrick Kane and held off the extra attacker flurry the rest of the game.
Up Next: Marleau and Kubalik led with six shots apiece. San Jose now returns home for three, starting with the Calgary Flames Sunday at 7 pm.
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