The Sharks are starting to resemble the road team they were last season when they led the league in wins, downing the Panthers in Florida on Thursday night, 4-2. Three takeaways from the comeback win…
1 – Pretty goals
Few players can make the kind of play Brent Burns made on the Sharks’ first goal. First, he got in position in the defensive zone, blocking a Keith Yandle shot. Then he used his speed to track down the puck in the neutral zone and get some separation from the rest of the pack. Charging towards the net, he capped it off by shouldering away Jason Demers and beating goalie James Reimer to get San Jose on the board with what was the first of four unanswered goals. Burns now has six goals on the year, leading the team.
Joe Pavelski’s score early in the second wasn’t as spectacular as the Burns effort, but he picked the perfect spot over James Reimer’s glove to tie the game. It was, as they say, a goal scorer's goal.
2 – Fourth line comes through
Sharks fourth liners Chris Tierney, Melker Karlsson and Tommy Wingels all played approximately 12 minutes, and DeBoer told reporters after the game that it was “maybe our best line. They had constant pressure, [and] they could’ve had a couple more [goals].”
One was enough, though. Wingels hustled down a loose puck after a faceoff, and made a nice move on Reimer in scoring his second of the season.
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“A huge goal in the third for us, so that’s the kind of depth and depth scoring [we need],” DeBoer said.
3 – Slump busters
Joel Ward has been effective on the top line in the two games he’s played there, setting a screen on Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s goal in Washington on Tuesday, and tracking down a loose puck along the wall before setting up Pavelski against the Panthers. He has one assist in each of his last two games, after going 10 straight games without a point.
Logan Couture’s empty net goal was his first score in 11 games, and he’s still looking for his first even strength goal in a manned net this season. Perhaps that goal will start a run of better luck for Couture, who is second on the Sharks with 46 shots.
