Sharks ride Hertl's hat trick to OT win vs. Flyers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Tomas Hertl stepped up when the Sharks needed a boost.
San Jose's center scored his second hat trick of the season en route to a thrilling 3-2 come-from-behind win in overtime against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center Saturday night.
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The third and final goal sealed a Sharks' win.
“I’m proud of every guy on the team right now," Hertl told broadcasters Randy Hahn and Bret Hedican after the game. "I think we had a great game, we worked hard… We stayed with it, we had so many chances all game long. We just have to work and eventually I score and we finish it hard. I’m proud of every single guy in the room. It’s tough, we’re missing a lot of guys. [Adin Hill] was great but every guy stepped up and played well.”
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“We had a tough start, we actually played two bad games on the road. We know we need these next two games because we’re coming home and we’ve got some tough games and even [on] the next road trip and we need these two points. It’s really important for us and even if we’re down, we showed – even against Pittsburgh – we can come back against anybody when we play our way.”
A scoreless first half was followed by two goals from Philadelphia's James van Riemsdyk in the third period before Hertl's flurry to close out a come-from-behind win. If the Sharks were to overcome a multiple-goal deficit on the road, they needed their best players to step up and play as such.
“I thought that we had to have our best players be our best players and he was a horse tonight," Coach Bob Boughner told reporters after the game. "What I loved, even when we got down 2-0 – even the last couple games – he’s taken on a huge leadership role and he’s saying ‘it’s alright,’ ‘we still got this, let’s keep going, let’s keep working.’ Tommy was being more than just the player of the game, he was being pretty inspirational in the locker room and on the bench tonight as well.
"I’m very proud of those guys. I went in and told them that there’s a lot of reasons and excuses that every team has. But the way that the road trip started, the humiliating loss in Pittsburgh, our injuries and COVID and everything else. It’s a great story because we finished on a positive note. Every point is huge right now, we’re in it.”
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Hertl's teammates expect as much out of his as well.
“It was a huge effort from him in the third," Andew Cogliano added. "That’s what good players do and that’s what your best players have to do once in a while. At the end of the day, it’s just a huge win for us. I thought we played them well all game, I thought we played a good game… Tommy made three big plays and sometimes when you’re meant to win you come out on top like that.”
Winners of two straight games, San Jose will return home to SAP Center where they will face off against four winning teams in the Red Wings (16-15-3), Rangers (22-9-4), Penguins (20-9-5) and the Kings (16-13-5).
