New top line emerges in win over Coyotes

The San Jose Sharks know they have a lot of things to clean up before they play the Arizona Coyotes in their second game of the season Saturday afternoon at Gila River Arena.

But here’s what we know after one game: The Sharks, at least for now, have the makings of a true top line with Tomas Hertl, Evander Kane and John Leonard, Martin

Jones looks refreshed and ready for a new season, and their defensive structure is going to be work in progress.

Kane had a goal and two assists, Hertl had two goals and an assist and Jones finished with 34 saves, including a dozen of the high danger variety, in the Sharks’ 4-3 shootout win over the Coyotes on Thursday.

The Sharks will have a video session Friday to go over the good and not-sogood things about their opener. But after their brutal start to the 2019-20 season when they never had a lead in their first four games, the Sharks can at least say they have something to build on going forward.

“We’ve gone through some system changes and there were some mistakes made,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. “Let’s face it, it wasn’t perfect tonight. But there were also a lot of good things, and you never complain about getting two points.”

Some takeaways from

Thursday:

SOLID START FOR JONES » Jones on Thursday looked a lot more like the goalie the Sharks had from 2015 to 2018 than the one that was in net the last two years. He was calm, poised, efficient, and the biggest reason why the Sharks now have two points.

Jones stopped a shot from Derick Brassard on a two-on-none in overtime, extending the game. He also stopped several Arizona point-blank opportunities.