After dropping a 5-3 decision to a beatable
team on Thursday night, the Sharks bounced back 24 hours later by beating one
of the tougher opponents in the league on Friday. The Sharks scored 5 times en
route to a big 5-4 victory over the host Dallas Stars at the American Airlines
Center.
Five different Sharks scored in a game that they dominated,
yet almost let slip away.
Dallas opened the game's scoring 4:42 into
the contest after the Sharks coughed the puck up in the Stars zone. Captain
Jamie Benn carried the puck up the left side on a 2-on-1 before cutting toward
the slot and snapping a shot that caught the upper left corner of the Sharks
net.
Roope Hintz was sent off for high sticking less than 2 minutes
later setting up the 1st of two Sharks power plays on the night. Alexander
Barabanov used the advantage to score his 1st goal of the season just 10
seconds into the penalty. Barabanov snapped a shot from the right dot after a
Logan Couture shot bounced off both goaltender Jake Oettinger and Tomas Hertl.
The puck kicked out to Barabanov for the immediate return on net.
Evgeny Svechnikov made his return to the Sharks lineup after being scratched
the last three games. He would make it count, as he scored his 3rd goal of the
season at the 12:18 mark. The Russian forward beat Mason Marchment to a chipped
pass from Oskar Lindblom and beat Oettinger from the slot. Lindblom waved at
the puck as a Stars defender tried to collect the puck against the right wing
boards, pushing it over to Svechnikov.
The Sharks looked to carry the
1-goal lead into the 1st intermission, but a turnover ended up in their own net
with 21 seconds left on the clock. Once again Benn converted after the Sharks
failed to control the puck. Erik Karlsson had a chance to carry the puck out of
the Sharks zone but Ty Dellandra picked his pocket in the slot before Benn
buried it. The goal came 20 seconds after Barabanov missed on a slam dunk
chance.
Timo Meier helped San Jose reclaim the lead just 29
seconds into the 2nd period. After a Stars turnover in their own end, Kevin
Labanc gathered the puck just inside the blueline. Labanc saw Meier open on the
right side. Meier collected the puck and ripped a shot from 30 feet out for his
7th goal of the season.
San Jose doubled up their lead 36 seconds
later after Barabanov picked Miro Heiskanen's pocket along the right wing
boards. Barabanov skated the puck around the back of the Stars net and circled
around the left post and sent a backhand pass through the crease to Logan
Couture who fired it home for his 6th of the season.
Couture completed
his first career Gordie Howe hat trick with just under 3 minutes remaining in
the period when he dropped the gloves with Benn.
San Jose like the
idea of scoring early in the period so much, they duplicated the feat to start
the 3rd period. Tomas Hertl scored his 4th goal of the season 29 seconds in
after taking a Meier feed and skating in on Oettinger and lifting the puck home
giving him goals in 3 straight games.
The Sharks thought they would
make things interesting by let the Stars creep back into the game. Hintz scored
his 6th of the season at 6:18 with a shot from the right dot that clanked off
the left post after the Stars worked the puck off the end boards.
Former Sharks captain Joe Pavelski made it a 1-goal lead when he scored his 7th
of the season with 8 minutes to play. Pavelski carried the puck into the Sharks
zone on the right side before sending a cross ice pass to Jason Robertson.
Pavelski's linemate pumped a shot on goal that James Reimer denied with a kick
save, but the puck bounced out to the right dot for a put back chance that
found the back of the net.
The final 5 minutes were wild as the Stars
tried to pot the equalizer. Reimer came up big to deny Dallas. The Stars pulled
Oettinger with 1:44 to play but could not match the Sharks 5th goal. They
banked a shot off the crossbar, but that's as close as they would come.
Game Notes: * Sharks head coach David Quinn earned his
100th career victory.
* 9 players recorded points for San Jose. Timo
Meier, Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl and Alexander Barabanov all had a multi-point
night.
* It took 861 games, but Logan Couture finally recorded a Gordie
Howe hat trick. Per Darrin Stevens, only 6 players recorded the same feat later
in their careers.
* The Sharks snapped their 5 game losing streak, and
in doing so, they also ended a 7-game losing streak in Dallas.
* The
Sharks get Saturday off, although they will use it as a travel day to
Minneapolis, in advance of their game with the Wild on Sunday. That game will
start at 3pm on the west coast.
