San Jose responds in strong fashion
Meier scores twice vs. Habs in return to Quebec
MONTREAL >> Logan Couture wanted a response and he got it.
After the Sharks put forth their worst effort of the season in a 6-0 loss to the Dallas Stars on New Year’s Eve, Couture insisted his team’s response to the blowout would be more telling than anything that happened in the game itself.
The Sharks (2013-4) provided the answer he wanted Tuesday, beating the Montreal Canadiens (16-20-4) for the 10th time in 11 tries.
Here’s what we learned in the Sharks 4-1 win over the Habs:
1. IT’S ALWAYS TIMO TIME IN MONTREAL >> Timo Meier likes breathing the air in Montreal. He also enjoys scoring goals that propel the Sharks to wins over the hometown Habs. After recording his first NHL goal on his first-career shot in his big league debut on Dec. 16, 2016, Meier found a way to outdo himself in the world’s most hockey-crazed town, scoring two more goals in his return to Montreal.
“It might be the air, a little bit of Quebec since I played juniors in Quebec,” said Meier, who racked up 95 goals while playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for the Halifax Mooseheads and the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.
After the Canadiens made it a 2-1 game at 16:07 of the middle frame by scoring a 5-on-3 goal, Meier allowed the Sharks to regain a two-goal edge heading into the second intermission by scoring a power play goal with 10 seconds left in the period. He scored his second just 1:13 into the third, sending a sniper shot into the topleft corner on the rush, validating head coach Pete DeBoer’s decision to reunite him with Joe Thorn-
ton and Joe Pavelski on the top line.
With eight goals on the year, Meier is now tied for third on the Sharks in goals after scoring just one in his first 16 games. Meier’s recent emergence is a reflection of his growing understanding of the subtleties of NHL hockey.
After Meier made a big splash in his debut last winter, he struggled with the rigors of playing against the best hockey players in the world on a nightly basis. He frustrated DeBoer’s puck possession sensibilities by blindly firing shots from all over the attack zone and he disrupted his system by making questionable puck management decision in all three zones.
“There was an adjustment. He’s been a man amongst boys in his peer group probably for the last eight, 10 years,” DeBoer said. “Now, he’s at a level where you’ve got to play off people a little bit more, you’ve got
to move the puck a little bit more and jump the holes. You’re not going to create offense by manhandling people at this level.”
Meier is getting a topnotch education on the nuances of the NHL game by playing alongside Thornton and Pavelski. It’s almost like skating on a line with a pair of coaches. They talk to him throughout the game, morphing him into more of a forechecking possession player.
What’s the biggest piece of advice he’s received from the captain and future Hall of Famer?
“Just being patient with the puck. Sometimes, hold on,” Meier said. “You just watch them play. They’re great leaders.”
2. MARC-EDOUARD VLASIC PROVIDES HOMETOWN HEROICS >> Vlasic earned the nickname “The Robot” from his Sharks teammates early in his career because of the calculated riskaverse style of play that he brings to the blue line. But he didn’t hesitate to jump into the rush on a two-onone at 11:27 of the second, scoring the game-winning
goal in his hometown by knocking in the rebound of a Mikkel Boedker shot.
“He saves that for Montreal, for sure,” DeBoer told a local reporter after his postgame media scrum.
The 57th goal of Vlasic’s 12-year NHL career was his first against the Canadiens and his first in Montreal. His parents, who were both defensemen on their recreational hockey teams, got to watch it from the stands.
Earlier in the day, Vlasic’s father brought the atom hockey team of 9and 10-year-olds that he coaches to the Sharks’ morning skate.
“It’s cool,” Vlasic said. “There was a lot of people here for me, so it’s nice they got to see me score.”
3. THORNTON BREAKS HABS SPIRITS >> The Sharks expected the Canadiens to play with the desperation of a “wounded animal” after losing four straight games by a combined score of 12-3.
The Habs recorded the game’s first six shots and drew three penalties in the opening frame. The Sharks withstood the barrage thanks to another valiant effort from their second-ranked penalty kill and goalie Aaron Dell, who stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced. Thornton broke the Habs’ spirits by scoring the opening goal at 12:57 of the first, taking the team scoring lead with his 27th point.
“It’s big,” Couture said. “They’re a fragile bunch right now. I think that first goal broke their back a little bit. We controlled it for most of the night.”