SAN JOSE — The term “I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out” may be worn out and cliche, but that’s exactly what happened between the Sharks and Islanders in their rematch Saturday night at SAP Center. And it was the home team that came out on top, getting revenge on New York with a 4-1 victory.
Timo Meier got everything started by knocking in his own rebound about half-way through the first period to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead. But before San Jose could go into the intermission with the lead, Islanders Brock Nelson split the defense to notch the equalizer.
New York had a little more zip at the start of the second stanza, but the Sharks took back the lead as Antti Suomela fed his own rebound to Joonas Donskoi, who chipped the puck in behind Robin Lehner for a 2-1 lead. Brent Burns added some cushion by finding the back of the net on four-on-four play to make it a 3-1 lead heading into the second intermission. Logan Couture then continued his hot streak by depositing the insurance goal in the third period before multiple fights broke out.
Here are three takeaways from the Saturday night battle.
The offense is really finding its rhythm
Maybe it was a carry-over of the offensive surge the Sharks had in the latter part of Thursday night’s 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres. Or maybe they just wanted to stick it to New York for blanking them a couple weeks back. Whatever the reason, the Sharks put pressure on the Islanders right from the drop of the puck.
There was no let up after they scored their first goal, as the Sharks pinned the Isles in their own zone.
Their overall dominance in the first 20 minutes made it surprising when New York tied the game up with a little less than two minutes to go in the period. But instead of settling back on their heels, the Sharks continued to push into the second period and notch two more goals.
The Sharks were already running up the shot clock. But now they are getting the goals to show for it.
The blue line is finding chemistry
And I’m not just saying this because Brent Burns became the first Sharks’ defenseman to score a goal.
There was so much hype around San Jose’s blue line before the season started because of the Erik Karlsson acquisition, to the point there was a major letdown among fans when the defense didn’t have instant chemistry on the ice.
Over the last two games that chemistry has started to show. The Karlsson-Marc-Edouard Vlasic pairing was extra impressive, helping to keep the puck in New York’s zone while the Sharks’ offense stayed hot.
This team isn’t afraid to throw a few haymakers
With the exception of a player or two, the Sharks teams in very recent history haven’t been big fighters. But when things got chippy with the Islanders on Saturday, they had no trouble fighting back.
It started with Barclay Goodrow dropping his gloves in the second frame. Then there was Evander Kane standing up in the box to yell over at Scott Mayfield while the two were in their respective sin bins serving fighting majors. It all came together after a series of scrums by the Sharks net, with Kane pumping up the crowd while still serving his penalty.
As much as the crowd enjoyed it, the Sharks still have to be careful not to get into too much trouble. While standing up for teammates certainly works, racking up too many penalties can hurt them in future games.
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