Sharks powers past Jets in season opener
Weatherby, Eklund lead San Jose to victory.
San Jose Sharks center Logan Couture, left, reaches for the puck next to Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele during the first period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
2021.10.16 – Jasper Weatherby scored the tying goal in his NHL debut and William Eklund set up the go-ahead score in his first career game to lead the San Jose Sharks to a season-opening 4-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night.
“You couldn’t ask for a much better way to start the season,” coach Bob Boughner said. “It was a team win. We tried to play to our identity as best we could. I think everybody knows there were some nerves there at the beginning, especially for some of the young guys. We were a little jittery in the first period and we settled down a little bit.”
Adin Hill made 20 saves in his San Jose debut to earn the win.
Andrew Cogliano, Tomas Hertl and Rudolfs Balcers also scored to the delight of the first big crowd in San Jose since the pandemic shut down the NHL in March 2020.
The Sharks opened their 31st season, introducing their roster amid a sparkling light show.
For casual fans, the names were mostly unfamiliar.
Former players Mike Ricci and Evgeni Nabokov, now coaching stalwarts, got the loudest cheers among the first dozen or so names announced to the crowd at SAP Center.
Finally, Timo Meier, Logan Couture – the captain, Tomas Hertl, Brent Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
Conspicuous by their absence, for wildly differing reasons: Patrick Marleau; Joe Thornton and Evander Kane.
For the Sharks to have a season anywhere near as sparkling as their pregame show, all of the name-players must produce. Same for a healthy percentage of the no-names.
Pierre-Luc Dubois, Andrew Copp and Jansen Harkins scored for the Jets, who lost their second straight game to open the season.
Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves but allowed a pair of power-play goals for the second straight game.
“Special teams, got to sharpen those up,” Copp said. “It seems a little disconnected. Specifically on the kill, maybe our D is just a little too far apart.”
The Sharks broke open the game with two goals early in an eventful third period. With Dubois off for elbowing, the 19-year-old Eklund fired a shot on net that Hellebuyck stopped, but Hertl was there to knock in the rebound.
2021.10.16 – San Jose Sharks vs. Winnipeg Jets (Video Highlights)
San Jose Sharks left wing Jasper Weatherby (26) is congratulated by teammates after scoring against the San Jose Sharks during the second period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
2021.10.16 – San Jose Sharks vs. Winnipeg Jets (Video Highlights)
2021.10.16 – San Jose Sharks vs. Winnipeg Jets (Video Highlights)
Less than two minutes later, Balcers knocked in a rebound of a shot by Timo Meier just before colliding with Hellebuyck in the crease, setting off a wild scrum between the teams. Hertl then fired up the crowd as he headed to the penalty box.
“We score and they kind of push him and two guys jump on him so I just tried to jump in, save his life,” he said. “I think fans missed it, too, and it was 4-2, so I just lift my hands up and told the fans to get going because we missed them. It was a long two years and we’re so happy we can play again in front of our fans and they were amazing tonight.”
The teams traded short-handed goals early in the second period, with Copp taking advantage of miscommunication between Hill and Erik Karlsson to give Winnipeg a 2-0 lead, and Cogliano answering for San Jose.
“We needed something to happen at 2-0,” Boughner said. “We needed the next one or it would have been a tough mountain to climb there. … It just lit our whole bench up.”
The Sharks then tied it late in the period when Weatherby beat Hellebuyck from the circle on the power play to become the first Sharks player to score in his NHL debut since Meier did it in Montreal on Dec. 16, 2016.
2021.10.16 – Brody Brazil: (Post-game – Jets @ Sharks) Video
San Jose Sharks defenseman Jacob Middleton (21) fights Winnipeg Jets defenseman Logan Stanley (64) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
2021.10.16 – Brody Brazil: (Post-game – Jets @ Sharks) Video
2021.10.16 – Brody Brazil: (Post-game – Jets @ Sharks) Video
the Sharks are in need of Karlsson to be the player he believes he still is.
“I obviously still think that I’m one of the best players in the world. That’s where I’ve been for a very long time, that’s where I want to go, that’s where I want to stay,” Karlsson said before Saturday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets. “I’ve claimed that time at the top and I want to stay at the top. For me, that’s always going to be my expectation, and I hope that that’s going to be the case for the rest of my career, not only this year.”
Karlsson, 31, is entering the third season of an eight-year, $92 million contract he signed in 2019, a deal that still makes him the league’s highest paid defenseman. Since he came into the league in 2009 as a 19-year-old, his 625 points in 788 regular-season games going into Saturday led all NHL defensemen.
But he’s also coming off his least productive season with 22 points in 52 games in 2020-2021, creating concern that his best days are in the rear view mirror.
The Sharks feel Karlsson, the 2012 and 2015 Norris Trophy winner as the league’s best defenseman, can get closer to his early-career form.
Sharks head coach Bob Boughner said Karlsson looked better in training camp now than he had the last two seasons.
“He’s a prideful guy. I think he wants to have a rebound season. He’s prepared for that,” Boughner said. “He’s got a sense of seriousness to his approach and I think great players figure it out. You can’t teach what he has.”
For the first time since he came to San Jose, Karlsson and his family spent the entire off-season in the South Bay.
Whether that leads to more production is unclear. But, for now, it appears he’s in a better starting spot.
“I feel good about where I am in life and where I am in my career,” Karlsson said. “I’m excited for this year, I think you always are at this point. But it’s nice to get back to normality a little bit and you can really feel that the energy around here is a lot different than it’s been the past two years.”
YOUTH MOVEMENT
Weatherby and Eklund were two of five rookies to play for the Sharks.
Eklund, the seventh pick in this year’s draft who turned 19 on Tuesday, is the fifth-youngest Sharks player ever. He and Jonathan Dahlen played wing on the top two lines, while Weatherby centered the fourth line, all in their debuts.
This marked the first time two Sharks got points in their debuts since Marco Sturm and Alexander Korolyuk did it on Oct. 4, 1997, against Chicago.
Lane Pederson also played on the fourth line and Jake Middleton was in on defense as rookies, but both have NHL experience.
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UP NEXT
Jets: Visit Minnesota on Tuesday night.
Sharks: Visit Montreal on Tuesday night.
Read more at: San Jose Sharks Media Services / More AP NHL
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