PHILADELPHIA _ Aaron Dell filled in for Martin Jones without experiencing a hiccup in his first game as the Sharks No.1 goalie.
Dell surrendered a goal on the first shot he faced at the Wells Fargo Center Tuesday before slamming the door shut by stopping the next 22 shots he faced en route to a 3-1 Sharks win over the Philadelphia Flyers (8-10-7).
The Sharks backup got the nod to open the Sharks four-game road trip because Jones suffered a "day-to-day" injury while shutting out the Winnipeg Jets Saturday.
Although the Sharks made things relatively easy for Dell Tuesday by keeping the puck in the Flyers zone and limiting the number of high-danger scoring chances he faced, the 28-year-old netminder made a handful of big saves in the win.
He made a glove save against Travis Konecny on a 2-on-1 in the first, he stopped Jakub Voracek from in close on the penalty kill in the second and he stacked the pads on Sean Couturier later in the period as he drove to the net.
After Claude Giroux opened the scoring just 48 seconds into the game, the Sharks stormed back with three unanswered goals.
Chris Tierney got things started by notching his sixth on a shot from the left circle with traffic screening netminder Michal Neuvirth at 10:29 of the first. Joe Thornton gave the Sharks the lead 8:13 later, capitalizing on a two-man advantage by sneaking the puck through Neuvirth's five hole from an odd angle.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic made it a 3-1 game at 16:04 of the second, firing the puck through a maze of traffic from the left point.
The Sharks improved to 9-0 when leading after two periods, holding the Flyers to just five shots in the third. Logan Couture recorded his team-leading 20 and 21st points by picking up a pair of assists in the win.
But the two points didn't come without a cost as Joonas Donskoi left the game in the middle frame with an undisclosed injury.
