photo from sfgate.com: The San Jose Sharks Timo Meier (28) scores a goal in the second period against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night at SAP Center in San Jose
By Mary Walsh
SAN JOSE- The San Jose Sharks played like a new team Saturday, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 6-1 at SAP Center. Timo Meier scored three of those goals for his first NHL hat trick. Mario Ferraro and Joel Kellman scored their first NHL goals and Patrick Marleau addded the sixth. Martin Jones made 26 saves in the win. Ivan Provorov scored the one Flyers goal and Carter Hart made 23 saves in the loss.
The lop-sided win was in stark contrast to the Sharks’ loss Friday night, when they gave up a 2-0 lead during the third period and then lost in overtime. After the win, Sharks captain Logan Couture said: “from the start of the puck drop I thought we were physical, we won more battles and got rewarded.” Nevertheless, he also said: “in the grand scheme of things we’re still near the bottom so we need to win a lot more games.”
Asked about what Timo Meier and Evander Kane did in the win, Sharks Interim Head Coach Bob Boughner said:
They’ve both been struggling a little bit of late and, you know, we had a good meeting this morning where we sort of called each other on the carpet about the details and why we’re struggling. And I think both those guys, along with Goody on that line I thought were obviously our most effective line but they played a lot more straight and north and they were stopping on pucks, they were being physical and I think that’s the results you get when you play that kind of detail.
The Sharks’ first goal came near the halfway mark of the first period. The Sharks had just one shot on goal when Mario Ferraro tried to move the puck out of his zone. the pass was intercepted and bounced back in his direction. He was already moving to chase it down and it came right to him. He moved it through the neutral zone where Barclay Goodrow caught it and carried it into the Flyers’ zone. Ferraro continued his pursuit and was closing on the net when Goodrow passed it back to him. Ferraro shot it past Hart for his first NHL goal. Assists went to Goodrow and Timo Meier.
By the end of the period, the Sharks had seven shots to Philadelphia’s five but were lagging in face-off wins with just 33% going their way.
The Sharks had killed off the only first period penalty, but had lost Melker Karlsson in that kill. He took a shot to the head and had to be helped off the ice. The shot hit him close to or below the bottom of his helmet, near the base of his skull. After the game, Bob Boughner said that Karlsson received some stitches and “he’ still being evaluated but hopefully we can have him back here. It’s a day to day thing.”
The Sharks scored again at 2:39 of the second period. Joel Kellman, playing his third NHL game, scored his first goal on a nice breakaway. He had to collect the puck from his skates on his way to the net but he managed in time to get a neat backhand under Hart’s pads. Assists went to Radim Simek and Mario Ferraro.
Timo Meier added a third goal at 9:21, his 12th of the season. He tipped Burns’ shot from the blue line while he and Goodrow both screened the goaltender. Assists went to Burns and Brenden Dillon.
The Sharks finished the second period with eleven shots to the Flyers’ eight. They also had one power play and took two penalties. One of those was Barclay Goodrow’s and gave the Flyers almost two full minutes of power play time to start the third period.
The Flyers scored on that power play, 51 seconds into the third. Claude Giroux, on the edge of the face-off circle, made a backhand pass to Ivan Provorov up on the blue line. Several Flyers converged on the net just as Provorov took the shot and it went by Jones on the blocker side. Assists went to Giroux and Travis Konecny.
The Sharks got that goal back with a three on one from Evander Kane, Barclay Goodrow and Timo Meier. Kane carried the puck into the zone and waited until defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere went down, trying to block the pass. Kane’s pass floated over Gostisbehere’s stick to Meier. Meier took the shot and put it past Hart as the goaltender tried to get across.
Timo Meier completed his hat-trick at 12:52 of the third. Barcay Goodrow sent the puck around the boards as he crossed the blue line. Evander Kane was coming around the other side and picked the puck up behind the net. Timo Meier arrived at the net, ready to receive the pass from Kane across the ice. Assists went to Kane and Goodrow.
With 2:40 left in the period, Marcus Sorensen made a nice move after carrying the puck into the zone at speed. He chipped the puck around Provorov to attempt a shot. Sorensen’s shot failed but Patrick Marleau was right behind him to tap the puck in. Assists went to Sorensen and Joe Thornton.
The Sharks next play on Tuesday in Detroit against the Red Wings at 4:30 PM PT.
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