Ducks crash into Sharks’ home opener
SAN JOSE — A season opener that saw Joe Thornton’s return to regular season games and the formal introduction of Erik Karlsson to the SAP Center fans was spoiled by the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.
The San Jose Sharks allowed goals by Brandon Montour and Adam Henrique midway through the third period as the Ducks, who were swept by San Jose in the first round of last year’s playoffs, skated away with a 5-2 win.
Evander Kane and Tomas Hertl both scored nifty goals for the Sharks, who did an admirable job of suppressing Anaheim chances. But goalie Martin Jones had an off night, allowing the Ducks’ four goals on just 14 shots.
The Sharks start a fivegame road trip Friday in Los Angeles against the Kings.
The loudest cheers during the Sharks’ glitzy pregame show Wednesday night when each player was individually introduced were saved for Thornton and Karlsson.
Thornton was returning to the SAP Center ice for the first time in eight months. Karlsson was playing in his first game of significance for the Sharks three weeks after he first donned a teal sweater for a team practice.
Once the Sharks’ game with the Ducks started, though, Kane and Hertl were the only San Jose players who brought the crowd out of their seats.
With the game tied 1-1, Hertl gave the Sharks the lead with a nifty individual effort that started with him breaking up a Ducks pass at the Sharks’ blue line and later controlling the puck in the Anaheim end.
Hertl then put the puck between defenseman Cow Fowler’s legs along the boards, carried it toward the middle of the ice and beat Ducks goalie John Gibson on the short side for a shorthanded goal at the17:14 mark of the second.
The first period had some disjointed moments, and a pair of neutral zone turnovers led to the game’s first two goals.
In the first minute, Brent Burns attempted diagonal pass into the Ducks zone that
instead went off the leg of Jakob Silfverberg. Henrique tapped the puck ahead to Comtois, who beat Jones with a low wrist shot on a breakaway just 49 seconds into the first period.
The Sharks took advantage of a Ducks miscue to score their first goal of the season.
Anaheim lost control of the puck in the neutral zone and defenseman Justin Braun chipped it ahead to Kane, who came across Anaheim’s blue line, put the puck between Josh Manson’s legs, and fired a wrist shot past Gibson to tie the game 1-1 at the 7:51 mark of the first.
Thornton was playing in his first regular season game since Jan. 23 when he suffered torn anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee against Winnipeg.