The Sharks knew the Philadelphia Flyers were going to come into SAP Center Saturday night looking for redemption after San Jose stunted them 8-2 back on October 9. And boy, did the visitors come out swinging.
Unlike that contest nearly a month ago, the Sharks and Flyers played a neck-and-neck game that appeared to potentially go in either team's favor. It seemed like the Sharks weren’t going to be able to get a leg up on the Broad Street Bullies, who led 3-2 until Joe Thornton – yes, you read that correctly – found the back of the net and treated the crowd to some free hockey.
That opened things up for team-leading goal-scorer Timo Meier to put home the game-winner and give Sharks a much-needed 4-3 victory.
Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s battle at the Tank.
How’s the line-shuffling coming along?
Coach Peter DeBoer continued mixing up his line combinations Saturday night, most notably moving Thornton down to center the third line and moving Joonas Donskoi up to play alongside Joe Pavelski and Evander Kane. The move proved to pay dividends in the second period when the Thornton-centered combo drew a penalty, which set the stage for Pavelski’s game-tying power play goal.
Of course, the change really paid off late in the third period when Thornton connected with Kevin Labanc – who also had a stellar feed to Pavelski on the power play –to find the back of the net for the first time since Jan. 21, two days before tearing his ACL and MCL last season.
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Did the team answer the coach’s call for a 'desperate' game?
San Jose admittedly played with much more desperation than they had in their previous games against the New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets. Their energy level was particularly high in the final minutes of the second period – before Jakub Voracek found the back of the net and put Philly back on top, 3-2.
But it was in the third frame that they really put their foot on the gas, and found a way to send the contest into overtime.
The Sharks are back to outshooting their opponents
We’ve seen in previous games that the shot clock doesn’t always tell the story. But after falling behind the Blue Jackets on Thursday night, it was clear the Sharks are more dominant when they create as many chances as possible.
San Jose also didn’t let Philly pin them in their own zone for long stretches on the evening, which was something both DeBoer and the players noted was a key factor they needed if they were going to win games.
