Falling behind by 2 goals in the 3rd period
has been a death sentence for the Sharks. Wrapping up a 4-game road trip with a
stop in Philadelphia, San Jose was faced with the hard reality of a 2-goal
deficit. Tomas Hertl had other plans. The Sharks forward scored a pair of goals
in the period to get the game to overtime, then scored the game winner 24 ticks
into the extra frame to help San Jose split the road trip with a 2-2-0 record.
Hertl has a lot to prove as he finishes out his current contract. He
may command a pretty penny in free agency, but his performance on Saturday only
upped his price tag. The forward wasted no time in declaring this game the
Sharks once the overtime period started.
San Jose worked a 2-on-1
break from their own end after Philadelphia coughed the puck up. Brent burns
flipped the puck up to Hertl along the right wing boards. Hertl skated up the
length of the ice with Timo Meier on his left wing, before snapping a shot from
the inside of the right circle. Defenseman Cam York may have partially
deflected the shot, which changed the trajectory on former Sharks goaltender
Martin Jones.
Jones was the tough luck loser as the Sharks poured onto
the field to congratulate Hertl. The netminder faced 43 saves, but fell one
short in only his 14th appearance of the season for the Flyers.
Jame
van Riemsdyk looked like he would be the hero of the day for Philadelphia,
scoring both goals for the Flyers.
His first tally came just 66 seconds
into the 3rd period. The goal looked similar to Hertl's game winner, as the
Flyers forward snapped a shot from the right side on the fly. The big
difference was that van Riemsdyk burned defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic by
chipping it past him along the side boards, catching the much-maligned blueline
flat-footed.
A Jeffrey Viel tripping penalty setup the Flyers 2nd
goal. The hockey gods were also on Philadelphia's side. York threw a puck at
the front of the net where van Riemsdyk was positioned with his back to Sharks
goaltender Adin Hill. The thigh-high shot hit van Riemsdyk in the shaft of his
stick, before caroming to the right where it hit Sharks defenseman Mario
Ferraro. The puck then took a 90 degree left turn off Ferraro and into the
Sharks goal.
Hertl kicked off his natural hat trick run by halving the
Flyers lead at 7:47 of the period. Timo Meier setup the goal by driving around
the right side before flipping a backhand to the front of the net. Hertl was
parked at the top of the crease where he redirected Meier's feed, hitting Jones
in the chest, but the puck flipped up in the air before hitting the goaltender
in the right skate and over the goal line.
The Sharks tied the game at 14:29 when Brent Burns
started the sequence by throwing the puck to the end boards for Meier who drew
a defender to him before sliding the puck to Hertl outside the left post. Hertl
drew the puck off his forehand then kicked the puck to his backhand before
lifting a shot past Jones.
Hertl worked his magic in overtime and the
Sharks wrapped up a road trip much stronger than they started. After dropping
games to Pittsburgh and Detroit where the surrendered a combined 14 goals, they
clamped down on Buffalo and Philadelphia, allowing 4 total goals in their two
wins.
Game Notes: * Jonah Gadjovich was injured in the
1st period and did not return to the game.
* The win game the Sharks
the season series over Philadelphia. San Jose defeated the Flyers by the same
3-2 score, also in overtime, back on December 30th. The game winner in that
game was also scored by Hertl.
* Radim Simek was scratched because of
a lower body injury that he sustained on Thursday in Buffalo.
* Nick
Bonino was added to the COVID protocol list, along with assistant coach John
McLean.
* The hat trick was the 5th of Tomas Hertl's career.
