Tomas Hertl started an unlikely third-period rally for the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday against the New York Islanders.
William Eklund then finished it with an overtime goal for the Sharks’ most stunning win of the season, a 5-4 victory at UBS Arena.
On the winning goal, the Sharks entered the Islanders’ zone before Mikael Granlund dropped a pass back to Ekiund, who beat Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin for his sixth goal of the year.
Eklund’s goal — with less than five seconds left in overtime — gave the Sharks as unlikely a win as they’ve had in the last four-plus seasons.
“I think we had a great team mentality there to make those plays,” Eklund said on NBC Sports California.
The Sharks pulled goalie Kaapo Kahkonen for both of Hertl’s goals, which came 1:41 apart late in the third period. Kahkonen finished with 33 saves – including two on breakaways by Pierre Engvall — as the Sharks improved to 2-2-0 on their season-long six-game road trip.
“It’s special, obviously,” Granlund told the Sharks Audio Network. “You get down 4-1 and you have that feeling, like, ‘Oh my god, not again.’ But we found a way, we kept battling and that’s a great win. You’ve got to enjoy those.”
Hertl’s tying goal came with 90 seconds left in regulation time — all after the Sharks trailed by three with 11:33 remaining.
On the play, Fabian Zetterlund kept the puck in the Islanders’ zone before he sent it to Alexander Barabanov, who sent a backhand pass to Eklund near the side of the New York goal. From there, Eklund took a stride and froze Sorokin before he sent a pass across the crease to Hertl, who had an open net in front of him.
“Everybody wants to score, especially when you can help the team,” Hertl told reporters. “I’m really happy we could finish it.”
“It was a hell of a play on that fourth goal to tie it,” Sharks coach David Quinn said.
Tomas Hertl’s sixth career hat trick tied up the game for the @SanJoseSharks en route to a comeback win! 🦈
Hat Trick Challenge presented by @AstraZenecaUS pic.twitter.com/v3VkdSstar
— NHL (@NHL) December 6, 2023
The Sharks were down 4-1 after they gave up a power-play goal to Islanders’ defenseman Ryan Pulock at the 8:27 mark of the third period. But Kevin Labanc started the Sharks’ rally, tipping a Nikita Okhotiuk shot last Sorokin with 8:05 left for his first goal of the season.
“We worked hard for that one,” Labanc said of his line with Nico Sturm and Jeremy Bailey. “We were just forechecking all game, the chances were coming and it was only a matter of time before we would have scored, so it felt good.”
How unlikely was the win? The Sharks were 0-15-0 this season when trailing after two periods.
Before the rally, Tuesday’s game was a special teams nightmare for the Sharks.
Besides the Pulock goal on a 5-on-3, two-man advantage, the Sharks also gave up a power play goal to Brock Nelson at the 5:27 mark of the second period to fall behind 2-1. Earlier in the third period, Mike Reilly scored shorthanded for a two-goal Islanders lead.
On Nelson’s goal, with Sharks defenseman Kyle Burroughs serving a hooking penalty, the Islanders were able to gain entry into the San Jose zone before Bo Horvat sent a pass to a trailing Noah Dobson. He quickly found Nelson on the other side of the ice.
Nelson then carried the puck closer to the net and fired a wrist shot past Kahkonen, as the Sharks gave up a power play goal for the fourth straight game.
Julien Gauthier scored an even-strength goal at the 9:28 mark of the first period to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead. Hertl’s first goal, just 2:51 later, tied the game and snapped his six-game goal drought.
Anthony Duclair did the work to chip the puck to himself on a Sharks’ clear before he carried the puck into the Islanders’ end. He sent one pass to the front of the net that came right back to him, and his second pass to the front found Hertl, who fired it past Sorokin for his fifth goal of the season.
Duclair was a +3 on Tuesday and now had three goals and two assists in his last three games, matching the point total he had through his first 20 games.
The Sharks had forwards Filip Zadina and Sturm and defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic back in their lineup Tuesday.
Zadina has been on injured reserve since Nov. 27 and Sturm was hurt Sunday morning before the Sharks played the New York Rangers. Vlasic, who had been scratched from eight of the last nine games, took Matt Benning’s spot in the lineup and started Tuesday paired with Calen Addison.
Zadina, who started Tuesday on a line with Jacob MacDonald and Matt Hoffman, was playing for the first time since Nov. 24 when he left the Sharks’ game with the Montreal Canadiens after one period with an upper-body injury. Zadina had two points in eight games before his stint on IR, and three goals and two assists on the season.
Sturm centered a line with Labanc and Bailey, bringing some stability to the Sharks’ bottom six after Ryan Carpenter had to go on injured reserve on Monday, along with defenseman Ty Emberson.
The Sharks now finish the road trip with games against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday and the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday.
Source: www.mercurynews.com