By Sara Biela – Content Editor
After being held scoreless against the New York Islanders, the San Jose Sharks exploded for eight goals on the Philadelphia Flyers and secured a dominant 8-2 win Tuesday night.
The Sharks (2-2-0) erupted for 48 shots on goal as Kevin Labanc became the youngest player in franchise history to tally four assists in one game.
“Sometimes that back-to-back game, you feel better for whatever reason,” Joe Pavelski told NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman in a postgame interview. “You should be a little tired, but it woke our legs up a little bit. We moved a lot better and the passing was cleaner.”
San Jose got off to a quick start when Logan Couture shot five-hole on Brian Elliott and scored unassisted at 3:17.
Eleven seconds later, Pavelski shot into a wide open net for his first goal of the season. Labanc made a slick shot to the net and the captain was right in front to put in the rebound.
The Sharks offense didn’t diminish as Pavelski struck again and extended the lead to 3-0.
The team blew the game wide open when Evander Kane redirected the puck off his skate and scored San Jose’s first power-play goal of the year. Before the contest, the team’s PP unit was 0-for-10.
“We weren’t sticking to the puck in the net across the board the last couple of games,” head coach Peter DeBoer told NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman. “It was nice to break through and get rewarded.”
The Flyers (1-2-0) broke up Aaron Dell’s shutout at 4:56 in the second period. With a lot of bodies in front of the net, Shayne Gostisbehere found an opening and executed on the team’s second PP of the game.
About 10 minutes later, Kane scored his fourth goal of the campaign, and second in the game, to put San Jose’s lead back at four.
The pounding continued in the final period as the Sharks netted three more goals.
At 3:27, Tomas Hertl scored San Jose’s second PPG of the game and made it 6-1. He originally tipped the puck off of Erik Karlsson’s shot and was able to finish the play.
Timo Meier got in on the scoring festivity with a filthy move to slip the puck five-hole on Elliott. Labanc tallied his historical fourth assist of the game.
With a frustrated and tired Flyers defense, Barclay Goodrow took advantage and made it 8-1 with a two-on-one shorthanded goal.
Philadelphia-veteran Wayne Simmonds made it 8-2 at 18:29, but the damage was already done.
“We knew coming in after the first, we were up four,” Karlsson told NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman. “We wanted to make sure we shut them down as well as we possibly could and keep hitting the gas. That’s how we ended up scoring eight.”
Dell recorded 31 saves in his first appearance in net of the season and spoiled Philadelphia’s (and Gritty’s) home opener.
The Sharks will continue their road trip with the New York Rangers on Thursday.
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