Thornton shows he still has offensive skills
He has two goals in a loss to the Rangers, says he wants to play for a contender
If this is one of the last games Joe Thornton plays for the Sharks this season, maybe the price tag for any possible trade needs to be increased.
Regardless, Thornton showed again Saturday night he still has plenty to offer, whether it’s to the Sharks or any other team.
Thornton, 40, scored two goals and goalie Aaron Dell made 30 saves in the Sharks’ 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers, their penultimate game before Monday’s NHL trade deadline.
Jesper Fast scored the winner at the 6:54 mark of the third period, his second goal of the game as the Sharks lost their third straight. The Sharks play the New York Islanders today afternoon.
Thornton’s two goals gave him four for the season as he became just the third player in NHL history in his 40s to score more than once in a game at Madison Square Garden, joining Gordie Howe and Johnny Bucyk.
Thornton’s first goal came at the 17:55 mark of the first period, as he took a drop pass from Timo Meier and slapped a shot past Rangers
goalie Igor Shesterkin to tie the score 1-1.
With the game still tied, Thornton, stationed in front of the Rangers net on a Sharks power play, had a Brent Burns shot go off him and past Shesterkin for a 2-1 lead. It gave Thornton his 44th career multi-goal game and his first since Feb. 18, 2019 when he scored three goals in San Jose against the Boston Bruins.
Before Saturday’s game,
Thornton told The Athletic he’s tempted to be moved to a contending team before the Monday’s trade deadline and added he doesn’t feel this will necessarily be his last NHL season.
“It would have to be an absolute perfect situation, I think,” Sharks interim coach Bob Boughner said about a potential Thornton trade Saturday morning . “Jumbo’s the kind of guy, he expects a lot out of himself and he wants the coaches to do the same and put trust in him, and he wants to play.”
“I think he wants to play an important role and help the
team. I don’t think that situation, I’m not sure if it’s out there. But if it did happen, it would have to be a situation where, my impression of talking to him, is a situation where he comes in and he can help the team and make a difference on a night-to-night basis.”
Thornton, in his 22nd NHL season and his 15th with the Sharks, will need to waive the ‘no move’ clause in his contract for Sharks general manager Doug Wilson to execute a trade before the deadline.
Late Friday, Boston Hockey Now reported that Thornton has a fiveteam short list of teams he would be willing to go to: the Colorado Avalanche, Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins.
Thornton now has 417 goals and 1,505 points for his NHL career. He has 1,051 points with the Sharks, second-most in franchise history behind Patrick Marleau’s 1,102.
The Rangers got goals in the first two periods from Fast and Mika Zibanejad, both after turnovers from Evander Kane inside the Sharks’ zone. Zibanejad scored at the 17:27 mark of the second period after Artemi Panarin knocked the puck away away from Kane, who was benched for the rest of the second period and for the whole third period.
“There’s an expectation here and a standard that we hold every player the same and accountable to,” Boughner said. “I just think that you have to be prepared and you have to be able to get out there and compete for your teammates. I didn’t think he had any of that tonight.
“It doesn’t matter who you are. We’re going to make sure that we have that standard and that line for everybody.”
Kane, who was playing in his first game since he was suspended for three games by the NHL on Feb. 15, also failed to capitalize on two breakaways. Kane, who leads the Sharks with 21 goals this season, finished with four shots on goal in 12:19 of ice time.
But Dell, making his seventh start in the last nine Sharks games, made a handful of other saves.
Dell saw just three shots in the first period, but the
Rangers had 16 shots in the second. Dell made a stop on a Fast breakaway at the 14:17 mark of the period and a short while later, stopped Tony Deangelo’s shot that seemed wired for the top corner.
Thornton’s first goal was one of 22 shots the Sharks had in the first period.
The Rangers opened the scoring at the 9:35 mark of the first. Kane had a pass attempt out of the Sharks’ zone intercepted by Ryan Strome, who found Panarin open beside the Sharks net. Panarin stickhandled in front of Dell, bringing him outside of his crease, before he passed to an open Fast in the slot for his 10th goal of the season.
• Melker Karlsson, injured Thursda, missed Saturday’s game with a lowerbody injury.