San Jose’s sizzling top line leads the way

The Sharks have only played two games but already it feels like they’re a different team than they’ve been the last two seasons.

Better on the forecheck and quicker to pucks all over the ice. More organized defensively, a deeper forward group, and improved in goal.

Playing their first game in Canada since Feb.

2020, the Sharks used all those attributes to earn a 5-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday at Bell Centre.

Timo Meier had a goal and two assists, Jonathan Dahlen scored his first two NHL goals and

Logan Couture added two assists in a dominating performance by the Sharks’ top line.

Erik Karlsson and Kevin Labanc also scored and goalie Adin Hill made zz saves, including 11 in the second period, as the Sharks won the first two games of the season for the first two games of the season.

The game was also the first for the Sharks since the NHL announced a 21-game suspension for forward Evander Kane for 21 games for violating the league’s COVID protocols. Kane will not be eligible to play again until Nov. 30 in New Jersey.

Here are the takeaways from Tuesday’s game.

SIZZLING TOP LINE: Dahlen, playing just his second NHL game, struck for two goals in the first 3:36 of the first period. His first goal came on a double-redirection, as a shot from the point by Brent Burns went off Meier’s stick, then off of him before it got past Canadiens goalie Jake Allen just 82 seconds into the first period.

Then on his second goal, Dahlen followed up Couture’s shot on Allen as he got behind the Canadiens’ defense and tapped the puck past Allen at the 3:36 mark of the first.