Burns gets to wing it, but only for one period
Back playing defense in second period, he scores his 10th goal
SANJOSE » Brent Burns’ time as a forward Thursday night lasted a little more than one period.
Moments after it did end, Burns scored with a slap shot from just above the circle.
Burns’ goal from an all- toofamiliar spot on the ice came at the 4:57 mark of the second period, as the Sharks got past the Vancouver Canucks 4-1 at SAP Center to maintain sole possession of second place in the Pacific Division.
Burns, Mikkel Boedker and Chris Tierney each had a goal and an assist and goalie Martin Jones made 43 saves as the Sharks won for the third time in four games.
With the Sharks’ forward group hampered by injuries, Burns started Thursday’s game on San Jose’s top line with Joe Pavelski and Timo Meier. He logged 8:47 of ice time in the first period to lead all skaters.
But after defenseman Dylan DeMelo was injured early in the second period on a hit by the Canucks’ Alex Edler and had to go to the Sharks’ dressing room, Burns was moved back to defense with former partner Joakim Ryan.
“It’s just fun to play in the NHL, to play hockey,” Burns said about moving back to the blue line. “Doesn’t really matter where.”
On his first shift back on defense, Burns took a pass from Ryan and sent a shot to the net that got through traffic and past Canucks goalie Anders Nilsson for his 10th goal of the season.
When DeMelo returned, Burns remained on the blue line.
“It didn’t last very long,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said, with a laugh, of Burns’ time up front. “He proved out what I already knew that he’s a better defenseman. He’s such a weapon back there. It felt like the right thing to and looking back at the game, it was the right thing to do.”
Burns’ move to forward, however brief, certainly added a degree of anticipation to Thursday’s game.
Burns had not started a game as a winger since the end of the 2013- 14 season, when he finished with 48 points in 69 games, good enough for fifth- best on the team. Burns was moved up front midway through the lockout- shortened 201213 season, and helped turn the team around after it f loundered through the first few weeks back on the ice.
Amid much debate, outside, and at times, inside the organization, Burns was moved back to defense for the start of the 2014-15 season, where he’s remained for the last three- and- a- half years.
Burns’ numbers as a forward largely came with Joe Thornton as his centerman.
“I think forward’s just all chemistry. You play with one of the greatest players to play the game, it’s nice,” Burns said of being on the same line with Thornton. “Playing with ( Pavelski) and ( Thornton), that was definitely one of the most fun times I’ve had in my career. We really had fun on every shift.”
DeBoer stated unequivocally on Nov. 20, when Burns had seven assists and no goals in San Jose’s first 19 games, that he was not thinking about moving the 2017 Norris Trophy winner back to forward.
Injuries to the Sharks’ forward group, though, changed things.
Thornton is out longterm with a right knee injury and Joel Ward has been labeled week to week with an right shoulder injury. Tomas Hertl, injured in Tuesday’s game against Arizona, is also hurt, but figures to return quicker than Ward or Thornton.
“Credit to him for what he can create from the back end,” Pavelski said. “He went back there and changed the game for us.”
Burns’ temporary move up front brought Tim Heed from the Barracuda on Thursday morning. He started the game on the Sharks’ second defense pair with Ryan.
The two were among the AHL’s best defensemen last season when the Barracuda won the Pacific Division and advanced to the Western Conference finals in the Calder Cup playoffs.
Heed drew back into the lineup for the first time since Jan. 13, but logged just 9: 18 of ice time, with just three shifts after the start of the second period.
Jones stopped all 22 shots he faced in the second period as the Sharks built a 2- 0 lead. Since the end of the NHL all- star break on Jan. 30, Jones has a 3- 4-1 record, but has allowed two goals or less in six of those starts.
“In terms of my game, there’s little things that I’ve been trying to work on,” Jones said. “Tonight I thought I was in good position a lot tonight and that was maybe part of the difference.”