Logan Couture and Adin Hill helped the Sharks start a daunting road trip with another impressive win without a handful of their regular players.
Couture scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Hill had his best game since early in the regular season as the Sharks earned a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
With Santeri Hatakka skating towards the Flames’ net, Couture threw a puck in the direction of goalie Jacob Markstrom. The puck, though, went off the stick of Calgary defenseman Nikita Zadorov and past Markstrom with 15:42 left in regulation time.
Alexander Barabanov also scored for the Sharks, netting his first of the season at the 1:17 mark of the second period off a stretch pass from Brent Burns.
Tomas Hertl and Jonathan Dahlen added empty-net goals in the final 63 seconds as the Sharks improved to 3-1-1 without several players who have been in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol for over 10 days.
Milan Lucic scored for Calgary at the 4:18 mark of the second, a goal that was first reviewed by officials, the challenged by the Sharks but ultimately stood.
In confirming the goal, the NHL’s Situation Room cited Rule 69.7, which says, in part, the goal on the ice should have been allowed because “in a rebound situation, or where a goalkeeper and attacking player(s) are simultaneously attempting to play a loose puck, whether inside or outside the crease, incidental contact will be permitted, and any goal that is scored as a result thereof will be allowed.”
Hill had 26 saves through two periods to help earn his first victory since the Sharks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 on Oct. 22. Hill had lost his last three starts, including a 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues last Thursday.
Tuesday’s game marked the first time the Sharks had played a Pacific Division opponent this season. The Flames owned a 10-game point streak and Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm both had 14 points, tied for eighth-most in the NHL after Monday’s games.
“This is as good as team as you’re going to find in the National League right now,” Sharks winger Andrew Cogliano said Tuesday morning. “They’re big, they play the right way. They have skill. Their goalie (Jacob Markstrom) obviously is one of the best in the league right now.
“This is a really an unbelievable challenge for us tonight. We have to come out and try to outwork them and the do things that we’ve been doing as of late in the parts of the game that have given us success. But this is a very good team. They’re very detailed and they play the right way. Tt’s a great challenge.”
The five teams the Sharks play on this trip had a combined record of 32-14-7 coming into Tuesday. Four of the five were in a playoff spot, with the exception being the Colorado Avalanche, who captured the 2021 President’s Trophy as the NHL’s top regular season team.
The Sharks, as of now, are expecting to have coach Bob Boughner and seven players back with the team in time for their game against the Avalanche on Saturday.
Per Sharks assistant coach John MacLean, defensemen Erik Karlsson and Jake Middleton and other Sharks players who have been in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol were all scheduled to skate at the Sharks’ practice facility on Tuesday.
Karlsson and Middleton were not on the ice Monday afternoon when other Sharks players who have been in the protocol did drills for more than half an hour. But they were expected to join forwards Timo Meier, Kevin Labanc and Matt Nieto, and fellow defensemen Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Radim Simek for a skate led by Sharks coach Bob Boughner, who has also been away from the main group for over a week.
