Sharks explode for 8 goals in Philly.
Pavelski, Kane spark Thornton-less squad’s offensive breakout
PHILADELPHIA >> Joe Pavelski insists that the Sharks have more than enough forward depth to absorb Joe Thornton’s short-term loss.
He and his teammates backed up the claim Tuesday night, breaking through offensively with 48 shots and eight goals as the squad’s emotional leader recovers from an infection in his surgically-repaired right knee back in San Jose.
Here’s what we learned as the Sharks (2-2) spoiled the Philadelphia Flyers home opener with an 8-2 win at Wells Fargo Center:
1. THE THORNTON-LESS SHARKS PROVE WHAT WE ALREADY KNEW >> Pavelski is right. The Sharks are deep with talent, they know how to win without Thornton, the team isn’t swimming in uncharted waters.
Last year, they reached the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with Thornton on the shelf for the entire second half and that was before they added a two-time Norris Trophy winner in Erik Karlsson to their defensive group.
No one should be surprised that the Sharks throttled a Flyers team that’s facing serious questions about its blue line depth from the local media.
“We’re starting to be the team that everyone was talking about in the preseason,” Kevin Labanc said.
After laying an egg in a 4-0 loss to the New York Islanders Monday
afternoon, head coach Pete DeBoer shuffled up his lines Tuesday, reuniting last season’s dynamic duo of Pavelski and Evander Kane on a line with Labanc and forming a powerful trio with Tomas Hertl, Logan Couture and Timo Meier.
The team responded immediately. Couture and Pavelski put the Sharks ahead 2-0 before the game reached the 3:30 mark, scoring their respective first goals of the season just 11 seconds apart. Pavelski added a second goal later in the period, Hertl and Meier both scored their second goals of the season and the fourth line chipped in with Marcus Sorensen feeding Barclay Goodrow on a 2-on-1 play in the third.
Labanc recorded four assists and Karlsson put together his first multi-point game with the Sharks by collecting a pair of apples.
But the x-factor driving the Sharks forward group sans Thornton is the same guy who propelled the team into the playoffs last season after arriving in a deal with the Buffalo Sabres at the trade deadline.
With Thornton in the lineup, Kane gave the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings serious matchup headaches in the first two games of the season by skating on the Sharks third line with Antti Suomela and Joonas Donskoi. The move drew comparisons to the Pittsburgh Penguins attack with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and
Phil Kessel spread out over three lines.
Back in the top-six group Tuesday, Kane scored two more goals, his third and fourth of the season, which is tied for third in the NHL. In 21 regular season games with the Sharks, Kane has scored 13 times while recording 18 points.
“He makes other guys around him play bigger because of that fearlessness,” DeBoer said. “And he’s a goal scorer in a league where it’s hard to score goals.”
Thornton or no Thornton, the Sharks are among the top eight teams in the NHL. We knew that.
The question is still whether they can hang with the deepest teams, think Winnipeg Jets, Nashville Predators and Washington Capitals, if they don’t get elite play from Thornton this season.
We aren’t going to figure that out in the first month of the season.
2. THE POWER PLAY FINALLY BREAKS THROUGH >> Just
as the Sharks offense was bound to come together at some point, a breakthrough from the power play was inevitable. A group that includes Karlsson, Couture, Pavelski and Brent Burns is going to figure out a way to make music eventually
After going 0 for 11, Kane scored the Sharks first power play goal of the season at 16:42 of the first and Hertl added another at 4:27 of the third. The man advantage also played a role in Kane’s second goal as it came just six seconds after Radko Gudas’ interference penalty expired.
“It’s going to be a process,” Karlsson said. “We’ve got to start building it. There’s going to be times when it’s not going to go our way, but we can’t get frustrated. We’ve got to work a little bit on the puck movement and just get a little bit more comfortable, which will come. I don’t see any stress in (not) seeing the results right now.”
3. THE LUXURY OF AARON DELL >> DeBoer often calls
having a backup goalie as reliable as Dell a “luxury.” That’s probably even more true when your No.1 goalie is fighting off some earlyseason rust.
After Martin Jones posted an .859 save percentage over the Sharks first three games, Dell stepped in and gave the team its best-goaltending performance of the season Tuesday, stopping 31 pucks off 33 shots.
If Jones continues to struggle, DeBoer can always use Dell as a bandaid until he figures it out, another reason why the backup’s decision to sign an extension with the team last season was so essential.
“He was great in a tough environment,” DeBoer said. “In that game there was some opportunities for them to grab some momentum at points.
“He kept us in a spot where they couldn’t do that.”