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Sharks drop season
opener
Labanc's lows outweigh highs in opening night
loss
The post-Patrick Marleau era began in San Jose on
Wednesday night as the Sharks kicked off the 2017-18 NHL season with a 5-3 loss
to the Philadelphia Flyers. San Jose will lean on several young players to pick
up the slack that was created with Marleau's departure. Kevin Labanc tried to
fill some of that void by scoring a pair of goals for San Jose, but his
inexperience cost the Sharks in the form of three penalties that turned into
Flyer goals.
Labanc helped the Sharks battle back from a 2-0 deficit
by scoring his first and second goals of the season to close out a wild 1st
period. The youngster looked as if the Sharks would easily forget Marleau, but
his lack of discipline exposed a Sharks penalty kill that would surrender three
goals on five extra skater chances.
Philadelphia jumped out to a 1-0
lead 8:28 into the contest when Claude Giroux converted on a horrible turnover
by Sharks goaltender Martin Jones. The Flyers dumped the puck behind the Sharks
net, and Jones tried to play a pass to the left wing boards, but he ended up
feeding Jakub Voracek who quickly found Giroux in front of the net for an easy
deposit.
Jordan Weal made it a 2-0 game with a shot from the right dot
on the rush as Labanc sat in the penalty box for goaltender interference.
Rather than setting up a typical power play offense, Weal took a Travis
Koneckny feed on the right side and snapped a shot past Jones. The Sharks
goaltender looked unprepared for the shot, which flew past his left shin.
Labanc atoned for this first penalty by scoring his 1st goal of the
season by swatting a waist high puck out of the air with a backhand chance that
punched past Flyers goaltender Brian Elliott with 2:43 left in the opening
frame.
The youngster would tie the game with 19 seconds left in the
period. Brandon Manning gave the Sharks a power play late in the frame, but the
Sharks primary special teams unit was lifeless. The second unit got the job
done when Labanc intercepted a clearing attempt at the blueline before skating
to the top of the left circle and snapping a shot that beat Elliott.
The 2nd period was relatively mundane in comparison to the goal-fest in the
first 20 minutes of play. San Jose out-shot the Flyers 13-6 in the period, but
a Labanc slashing penalty would setup another power play goal for Philadelphia.
Wayne Simmonds was the benefactor of a Shane Gostisbehere shot on the
ensuing power play. Gostisbehere's shot clipped Simmonds shin guard before
redirecting into the Sharks net for the 3-2 lead.
San Jose re-tied the
game 3:12 into the 3rd period with a power play goal of their own. Logan
Couture tried centering the puck to Mikkel Boedker in the front of the net with
a backhand pass from behind the right post. The puck hit defenseman Andrew
MacDonald in the skate and redirected past Elliott.
San Jose looked poised to grab their first lead of the
night by turning up the heat on Elliott, but chances by Joe Pavelski and
Boedker narrowly missed.
All of Labanc's offfensive heroics in the 1st
period where forgotten when he took a third penalty 9:21 into the final period.
The Sharks penalty kill proved consistently terrible when they surrendered a
3rd goal 6 seconds into Labanc's infraction.
Once again, Simmonds
parked himself in front of the Sharks net and converted. This time, but
redirecting a Voracek shot with his stick blade with 10:33 left in regulation.
All the adrenaline of an opening night game seemed nonexistent over
that final 10 minutes. San Jose couldn't apply the pressure necessary to
generate the equalizer. In fact it was Philadelphia who seemed more intent on
keeping pucks flowing toward Jones. The Flyers out-shot San Jose 17-11 in the
period.
Pavelski did little all night, but got his name on the
scoresheet when he took a high sticking penalty with 2:21 left in regulation.
The misdeed all but killed any chance for a comeback.
Simmonds sealed
the deal with an empty net goal late. The tally earned Simmonds his 2nd career
hat trick. It was the first 3-goal performance on opening night in Flyers team
history.
Game Notes:
* The Sharks were outdone in just
about every statistical category in the game. The Flyers were better hits,
giveaways, and faceoff wins.
* Timo Meier and Joonas Donskoi, two of
the young players the Sharks are looking to have breakout seasons, were the
only San Jose players left without a shot on goal.
* Logan Couture,
Kevin Labanc and Brent Burns led the Sharks with 5 shots each.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| PHI |
2 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
| SJ |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
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| 1st period - 1, PHI,
Giroux 1 (Voracek), 8:28. 2, PHI, Weal 1 (Konecny, Gostisbehere), 11:16, (pp).
3, SJ, Labanc 1 (Dillon, Pavelski), 17:17. 4, SJ, Labanc 2 (unassisted), 19:41,
(pp). |
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| 2nd period - 5, PHI,
Simmonds 1 (Gostisbehere, Voracek), 17:36, (pp). |
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| 3rd period - 6, SJ,
Couture 1 (Thornton, Burns), 3:12, (pp). 7, PHI, Simmonds 2 (Voracek,
Gotisbehere), 9:27, (pp). 8, PHI, Simmonds 3 (Couturier), 19:24, (en). |
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| 1st period - Labanc, SJ
(interference on goaltender), 10:21; Manning, PHI (hooking), 18:09. |
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| 2nd period - Hagg, PHI
(tripping), 0:51; MacDonald, PHI (cross checking), 7:44; Labanc, SJ (slashing),
17:28; Gudas, PHI (interference), 18:50. |
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| 3rd period - Koneckny,
PHI (hooking), 2:37; Labanc, SJ (tripping), 9:21; Karlsson, SJ (interference),
15:05; Pavelski, SJ (high sticking), 17:39; Gudas, PHI (boarding), 18:54. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| PHI - Elliott |
35 |
32 |
| SJ - Jones |
30 |
26 |
| SJ - empty net |
1 |
0 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| PHI |
8 |
6 |
17 |
31 |
| SJ |
11 |
13 |
11 |
35 |
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| Referees: Pollock,
McIssac. Linesmen: Brisebois, Kovachik. |
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