Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks
By Mary Walsh
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Sharks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in overtime Saturday. In the process, Timo Meier scored two goals, breaking Patrick Marlowe’s team record by scoring 11 goals in the first 14 games of the season. Goalie Martin Jones played his 200th game with the Sharks, the third goaltender to do so. He made 23 saves for the win. Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton also scored for the Sharks. For the Flyers, Nolan Patrick, Jordan Weal and Jakub Voracek scored, while their goalie Calvin Pickard stopped 31 shots.
For the first time in 10 games, the Sharks gave up the first goal just 37 seconds in. Philadelphia’s Nolan Patrick carried the puck through the neutral zone, passed it to Oskar Lindblom on his left, who passed it back across behind Patrick to Travis Konecny on the right wing. Konecny found Patrick at the edge of the blue paint, and Patrick pulled the puck across in front of Jones, putting it under Jones as Jones moved left. Assists went to Konecny and Lindblom.
Meier tied the game at 3:15. Vlasic sent the puck in around the boards, where Hertl caught it behind the net. He carried it back over the goal line and made a pass almost behind him. Meier met the puck right in front of the blue paint and took the shot before Pickard could get across. Assists went to Hertl and Vlasic.
The Flyers took the lead again at 16:40 of the period with a goal from Jordan Weal. Wayne Simmonds brought the puck out from behind the net and centered it for Weal. Weal turned and took the shot quickly, with Dale Weise screening the goalie.
The Sharks started the second period with eleven seconds of penalty yet to kill. They had a second penalty to kill at 2:47. Midway through the kill, Brenden Dillon started an impressive short-handed attack with Couture and Burns. They created some good chances but did not score during the Flyers power play.
The Sharks tied the game at 10:35 of the second, on the power play. Kevin Labanc made a pass that looked enough like a shot for the goalie to commit to stopping it. Pavelski, below the faceoff circle across the ice from Labanc, caught the pass and took the shot too quickly for Pickard to get across. Assists went to Labanc and Burns.
A few minutes later, Hertl took a hit from Christian Folin and looked shaken up. Folin and Hertl appeared to have bumped helmets. There was was no call on the play and Hertl did not return to the game. Melker Karlsson took Hertl’s spot with Meier and Couture.
Jakub Voracek gave the Flyers another lead with just 30 seconds left in the second. Brent Burns had just taken a penalty and the Flyers were playing with delayed penalty time. Lindblom sent the puck up from below the goal line to Voracek high in the slot. Voracek took a quick shot and beat Jones glove side. Assists went to Lindblom and Ivan Provorov.
The Sharks had a power play early in the third period. The Sharks showed some urgency but the Flyers penalty killers were very aggressive and made it hard for the Sharks to come through the neutral zone or do much in the offensive zone. The Sharks made amends for that power play a few minutes later with an impressive shift in the Flyers’ zone. They kept the Flyers scrambling for what seemed like minutes. They got credit for two shots in that spell.
It ended with a too many men on the ice call as the Sharks slipped up trying to change. The Sharks made another short-handed attempt right at the start of that penalty kill, keeping the Flyers busy in their own zone for nearly a minute. They finished the kill off in a more traditional manner.
Thornton tied the game again with a strong shot from above the faceoff cirle, his first goal since January. An assist went to Labanc, who had carried the puck across the blue line and into the slot. His path blocked, he made the pass across to Thornton for the shot. The second assist went to Dillon.
At the end of regulation, the Sharks led in shots 34-25, though the big difference there came in the first period. In the second and third, the Flyers had just one less shot than the Sharks.
Meier ended the game just 13 seconds into overtime. Logan Couture bulled his way by Voracek to bring the puck into the offensive zone where he found Meier skating down the slot. Meier took the pass and the shot without hesitation.
Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer made some line adjustments prior to Saturday’s game. The successful trio of Couture, Meier and Hertl was reunited. Antti Suomela sat out while Rourke Chartier came in on the third line with Labanc and Joonas Donskoi. On defense, Erik Karlsson started with Dillon while Vlasic was paired with his partner of many seasons, Justin Braun.
The Sharks next play on Tuesday at 7:30 PM PT, hosting the Minnesota Wild.
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