Kane’s 1stperiod hat trick powers 3rd straight victory
Evander Kane had a first period to remember Wednesday night.
The Sharks forward scored a hat trick in the opening 20 minutes to spark San Jose to a 52 win over the Carolina Hurricanes at SAP Center.
“The puck was finding my stick and I was finding the back of the net,” Kane said.
Goalie Martin Jones made 36 saves and Tomas Hertl scored an emptynet goal and added two assists. Kane collected a fourth point with an assist.
“Special moment for him,” Sharks captain Logan Couture said. “He’s a goalscorer, that’s what he does. He goes to the net hard and fills that role.”
Kane scored twice on the power play in the final 2:41 of the period to break a 11 tie. And in winning for a third straight game, the Sharks (34) prevented Carolina from setting a franchiserecord best start as the Hurricanes fell to 62.
San Jose looks to close out a 30 homestand on Saturday when Buffalo visits.
Kane was Johnnyonthespot to score his first of the night from the slot at 8:36. An Erik Karlsson blast from the right point glanced off the legs of Carolina defenseman Brett Pesce and Hertl, and before anyone could locate the puck, Kane swooped in from the right circle to wrist a shot past Hurricanes goalie James Reimer.
The visitors, who outshot the Sharks 167 in the first period, tied the game at 10:46 when defenseman Dougie Hamilton scored his fifth goal of the early season. Marcus Sorensen’s failure to catch a Joe Thornton pass and clear the zone turned into a costly turnover.
San Jose had an apparent Dylan Gambrell goal waved off for a high stick at 12:17, but that didn’t stop the Sharks’ power play from getting untracked late in the period.
Kane connected on a follow shot in close at 17:19 after Burns blasted away from the point 53 seconds into Nino Niederreiter’s trip of Hertl.
And, just 20 seconds after Andrei Svechnikov was sent off for tripping Karlsson, Kane redirected a Burns shot from the high slot past Reimer to cap the hat trick and give him a teamleading four goals.
“It was obviously nice to be a part of getting that lead,” Kane said. “The guys did a great job of getting pucks to the net. Our power play executed. It was nice to get it at home.”
Kane goes into the history book as the first Shark to score three goals in an opening frame. He’s the ninth San Jose skater to score three goals in a single period, and the first since Patrick Marleau turned the trick on Jan. 23, 2017.
Kane’s only other hat trick came March 16, 2018, when he scored four at Calgary in his eighth game after being acquired in a trade with Buffalo.
“When he’s hot, there’s not many guys who are as hot as him,” Couture said. “We’re hoping to ride that wave a little longer.”
San Jose upped the lead to 41 at 14:37 of the second period on Barclay Goodrow’s third goal of the season. Then San Jose’s recent strong showing on the penalty kill continued as it foiled all three Carolina power plays, including a 46second stretch of a twoman advantage late in the middle period.
“We’re moving our feet, we’re pressuring the opposition trying to force them to make plays a little quicker than they’d like to,” Goodrow said.