The San Jose Sharks hosted the New Jersey Devils last night, this was the second game between the two clubs in two weeks.
The first one went to the Devils, with them winning 3-1 over the Sharks on Oct. 24th. However, the Sharks weren't going to let them sweep the season series, and beat them 5-2, earning their first home win of the season.
The Sharks saw contributions from William Eklund, Philipp Kurashev and Alex Wennberg in the first period, who pushed them to an early 3-0 lead. The Devils did get a goal from Dawson Mercer late in the first to cut the lead to two. However, they didn't generate a ton after that.
As for San Jose, they kept their foot on the gas. Will Smith scored in the second period as well as Tyler Toffoli. That put them in the driver’s seat by a score of 5-1. Mercer did score again for the Devils in the third, but the Sharks held on and won 5-2.
It was another dominating win for Macklin Celebrini, who has been off to a very hot start to the season. He collected an assist on Smith's goal late in the second and extended his point streak to a career-high six games.
With that point, he now has 17 points on the season and joins elite company. He now has the fifth most points by a teenager in his club’s first 11 games of the season. The list includes Bryan Trottier (20), Steve Yzerman (19), Wayne Gretzky (18) and Sidney Crosby (18).
Additionally, it was a milestone night for Wennberg, who scored and recorded an assist in his 800th game in the NHL.
Kurashev also had a good night with a goal and an assist, as did Timothy Liljegren, who had two assists.
Between the pipes, Alex Nedeljkovic was solid. He faced 31 shots and saved 29 for a .935 SV%. That is his second win of the season and helps improve his SV% to .887 on the year.
In other news, Sam Dickinson drew into the lineup for his ninth game of the season. That means that a decision will have to come before he plays another game. If he plays in 10 games, it'll burn the first year of his entry-level contract. That will generate a ton of attention before the Sharks are next in action on Saturday night against the Colorado Avalanche.
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Quotes From The Sharks
Ryan Warsofsky - Head Coach
- Told his team to just play
- Really liked his teams start
- Felt that the team didn't panic in the third period despite the Devils scoring
- Team is still learning how to win in these situations
- Neutral zone puck play wasn't good in the second period. He felt Nedelkjovic made some huge saves
- Wasn't too stressed about not registering a shot in the third. Needs to focus on skating and defending the lead.
- Felt Eklund's early goal helped give the team some juice
- Wennberg has been good in the shutdown role against other teams top center's
- Earning their first home win is important to the group
- No news to report on Dickinson and his future
William Eklund
- Felt the team has kept their morale up despite losing early
- Team has done a good job learning the new group
- Felt his goal jump started his club
- Feels that he is making the most of his chances that he is getting
- Felt the Sharks took over the second by scoring their two goals
- Mentioned it is important for his line to score when Celebrini's line is being matched up against
- Feels it is easy to play with his new line
Dmitry Orlov
- The team moved the puck to create chances
- Felt the team played good defensively despite the Devils carrying play in the third
- Mentioned that it is important to get their first home win and get the crowd involved by scoring five goals.
- Team is getting better at communicating in the defensive zone
- Made sure to praise Nedelkjovic for keeping them in the lead in the third
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