Sharks: Couture scores 7th as S.J. downs Rangers.
Goaltender, teammates continue to excel on penalty kill, and Sharks go on to win for the third time in past four games
In a city that’s known for its bright lights and cosmopolitan fashion, the Sharks picked up a win in the unsexiest of ways Monday.
The Sharks (4-4) won their third game in four tries on the back of a Herculean effort from their penalty kill, which went 6 for 6, improving to 30 for 31 (97.0 percent) since it surrendered three goals to the Philadelphia Flyers on opening night.
Here’s what we learned as the Sharks topped the New York Rangers 4-1 at Madison Square Garden: 1. MARTIN JONES IS THE SHARKS’ BEST PENALTY KILLER >> Cliches are cliches for a reason: they’re true.
Jones validated an old hockey cliche Monday, stopping each of the 10 shots he faced during the Rangers’ (2-6-2) six power plays, allowing the Sharks to earn two points on a night where they collected a string of tickey-tack stick penalties.
“It’s so important,” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. “You can do a pretty good job — get a few shot blocks, a few clears — but if you kill (six) penalties, there’s going to be a couple breakdowns
“To get the chance to score on him, that was a great moment and that’s something I’m going to remember for a long time.” — Tim Heed, Sharks rookie from Sweden who scored on Henrik Lundqvist, his country’s top goalie
at some point. Someone’s going to make a play and he came up with some huge saves.”
Jones built off Friday’s exceptional performance against the New Jersey Devils, extending his shutout streak to 133:46 before Mika Zibanejad finally beat him with a shot to the near post at 4:23 of the third.
The Sharks goalie made 33 saves on 34 shots, several in eye-popping fashion.
But Jones isn’t the only reason the Sharks penalty kill is executing at an 88.9 percent clip this season.
After ranking 18th (80.7 percent) in the NHL last season, the Sharks made a few structural changes to the penalty kill in the offseason after Rob Zettler and Dave Barr were added to coach Pete DeBoer’s staff.
“We spent a lot of time on it in the summer,” DeBoer said, without revealing his hand. “And then it’s mindset, and getting the job done, and confidence. And your goalie’s always your best penalty killer and he’s been great lately, so that helps.”
Alternate captain Logan Couture said the penalty kill’s structural tweaks are making it harder for teams to establish possession in the offensive zone.
“Our stand at the blue (line) is making it tough for teams to enter the zone,” he said. “Our clears have been good and then our goaltending’s been phenomenal.” 2. COUTURE CONTINUES TO PROVE HE’S AMONG THE NHL’S ELITE CENTERS >> Hanging around the baseball beat this summer, I received a lot of questions from fellow Bay Area sports writers about when the Sharks are going to acquire another elite-caliber player to replace aging veterans Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, who signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the offseason.
My answer was always the same: Have you heard of Logan Couture?
After two consecutive injury-plagued seasons, the Sharks front office is convinced that Couture is poised to prove he’s among the top centers in the game with a breakout season this winter. Right now, he’s proving that this line isn’t just PR spin.
Couture was named the NHL’s third star of the week Monday after recording five goals and seven points in three games last week. After recording his second career hat trick against the New York Islanders on Saturday, Couture got the Sharks on the board at 1:56 of the first Monday, beating Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist with a shot he fired through traffic from above the circles.
The tally was Couture’s fourth in a span of 35:30.
“Every time he’s healthy, he’s a really effective player,” Jones said. “Guys in the room aren’t surprised by it at all.
“He flies under the radar out in San Jose, but he can score goals. He’s a 30goal scorer in this league and he’s as good as anyone on the defensive side of the puck as well.”
3. HEED SCORES FIRST NHL GOAL AGAINST SWEDISHNATIONAL ICON >> Leading into Monday’s game, Kevin Labanc and Joakim Ryan stole the spotlight as a pair of tri-state area youngsters making their debuts at the Garden.
But the game was particularly special for another Sharks rookie, Tim Heed, who was squaring off against one of his country’s national heroes in Lundqvist.
Heed made sure that the game will be stamped in his memory forever, scoring his first NHL goal by squeaking the puck through Lundqvist’s pads with an oddangle shot near the goal line at 12:45 of the first.
“You always dream about playing against the King,” Heed said, referring to the goalie who went 5-1 during Sweden’s run to the hockey gold medal at the 2006 Torino Olympics. “He’s probably the best goalie of all time back home and a guy that you look up to.
“To get the chance to score on him, that was a great moment and that’s something I’m going to remember for a long time.”