Thought there was no topping the intensity of the Sharks' Tuesday night win in Nashville? Friday's matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes was just as fast and furious.
Team Teal dominated the young Canes squad in the first 20 minutes. But Carolina came roaring back with a vengeance in the second stanza, tying things up 3-3 before the second intermission. The nail-biting third frame bled into overtime play. In the end, the Hurricanes notched the win in the shootout.
Here are three takeaways from Friday night's tilt.
Aaron Dell was the reason San Jose made it into overtime and the shootout
The Sharks did a full 180-degree turn in the second period Friday night. And it cost them on the scoreboard. In the first period, they did a brilliant job of slowing the Hurricanes down and hemming them in their own zone. In the next frame, Carolina had increased momentum and forced the Sharks to turn the puck over often.
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You have to give Aaron Dell major props in Friday's game. He had a couple huge saves, and was tangled up on Carolina's first two goals to the point he had no chance to make the save. With the Sharks pinned in their own zone and the Canes running up the shot clock, the backup netminder brought his A-game.
Have we seen the Sharks' winning combinations on defense yet?
It's difficult to say. Especially since coach Peter DeBoer was shuffling the d-pairs up quite a bit during the second stanza. It did, however, look as though the pairs looked the most confident in the first frame with Marc-Edouard Vlasic reunited with Justin Braun and Erik Karlsson paired with Brenden Dillon. With it still only being October, it's doubtful DeBoer is going to stick with any set of pairs for the rest of the season. Or for a whole game for that matter.
Then again, the Sharks' forward lines were also jumbled up in the third period in an effort to get some offense going.(Well, and because Tomas Hertl left the game after two periods with an undisclosed injury. Long story short: Expect the combos to keep getting shuffled.
Nobody knocks in a rebound like Timo Meier
We have to give credit where credit is due, and nobody knocks in the rebound like Meier. Which has a lot to do with the fact the Swiss winger has become a master at posting up in front of the opposing goal, committed to finding the back of the net.
His first-period goal on Friday was another perfect example of this skill. While on the power play, Meier set himself up near netminder Petr Mrazek while Erik Karlsson fed the puck to Burns up top. Burns' one-timer missed, but Meier was there to punch the puck in and add to the Sharks' early lead.
Meier tried to do something similar later in the game to break the 3-3 tie. Unfortunately for Meier, Mrazek was there to make the save and keep the Hurricanes rolling into overtime on their way to the win.