Rookies look to grow from solid NHL debuts
EDMONTON » Alexander True and Maxim Letunov earned passing grades from Sharks interim coach Bob Boughner after their respective NHL debuts.
Now comes the key part: the encore.
True and Letunov played 12:52 and 10:17, respectively, in the Sharks’ 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday.
True finished with four hits and was effective at times in using his 6-foot-5 frame to protect the puck on the forecheck. Letunov nearly scored in the first period, and he and linemates Marcus Sorensen and Dylan Gambrell created a handful of high-danger chances in just under seven minutes of ice time together at even strength.
“As a line, we worked a lot down low,” Letunov said, adding about his scoring chance from in close that he, “lifted (the defenseman’s) stick and got the puck in the slot. It was a shot-first mentality.”
After the excitement of playing their first NHL games, True, 22, and Letunov, 23, look to get another shot today when the Sharks play the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place to close out a two-game trip through Alberta.
“Usually your first game, you get through with adrenaline and you’re so pumped up that your body feels great,” Boughner said. “Now it’s adjusting to that pro, every day, NHL life, and you’ve got to be consistent. That’s really what I’m looking for.”
Without the Sharks having last change, True’s line with Stefan Noesen and Melker Karlsson spent almost all of their time in the first period skating against the Flames’ top line of Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Buddy Robinson. Letunov was on the ice in the first half of the game against Derek Ryan, Milan Lucic and Dillon Dube.
Aided by another stellar performance from goalie Aaron Dell, those lines held their own, with Calgary’s only goal coming on the power play by Gaudreau.
“Even when you’re out there, you don’t certainly think about who you’re against,” Letunov said. “You know they’re out there, but you still try to play your game. I played against those guys in preseason as well. But it was a cool moment.”
“You’ve obviously have to (use) more caution out there, not turning pucks over when you see that you’re out there against the other team’s top line,” True said. “But not get too much in your own head about it.”
Above all, Boughner wants to see both True and Letunov play with the same attention to detail.
“I want to see them remain assertive,” Boughner said. “There was a lot of times, whether it be coming back into our zone and being that first guy back on the breakout, helping the defenseman, or being the first guy on the forecheck, winning those battles. I thought both of them did a good job of that.”
Sticking up for each other
Barclay Goodrow earned kudos from Boughner and his teammates for his first period fight with Lucic, one of the NHL’s premier tough guys. Lucic leveled Evander Kane with just over two minutes left in the first period before Goodrow stepped in to challenge him.
Kane later scored what would be the game-winner in the second period off an assist from Goodrow, snapping a five-game goal drought. Kane has a teamhigh 20 goals this season.
“After (Goodrow) did that last night, I thought Evander, his game completely changed,” Boughner said. “He was probably one of the most dominant players on the ice, and you could just tell he felt good about it. He’s been there many times for a lot of his teammates. When you see that … there’s no tougher guy than Lucic. Goody’s going in there with the hopes of just surviving.
“That’s pretty significant just because of who it was. Not just Kane responded well, I thought the whole team responded well.”
Kane expressed some frustration after a Dec. 8 game against the Florida Panthers, when he was on the receiving end of a questionable hit from MacKenzie Weegar and no one else stepped in. Kane said after the game, a 5-1 Sharks loss, that “it’s just about sticking up for yourself. We need a little more of that.”
Last Saturday night in the Sharks’ game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Patrick Marleau was checked by Erik Cernak while he was off balance and skating quickly down the ice. Marleau crashed hard into the boards, and confronted Cernak on his own a few seconds later.
Boughner agreed that mentality of having each other’s backs and playing for one another hasn’t always been there this season for the Sharks.
“There’s times that we haven’t been good enough in that area,” Boughner said. “It’s something that from the day I took over, I tried to demand that we do everything as a team. Even just playing hard for each other, but not necessarily all of the stuff that we saw (Tuesday) night. That’s a good example of it.
“I think there’s been other times where guys are getting run over a little bit and we haven’t really responded on the ice. For me, that seeps in. That seeps into the room and seeps into your team. We always talk about being tough to play against and being a tough opponent, and that’s just part of it.”