The Sharks came from behind to defeat the Winnipeg Jets 4-3 in their season opener Saturday night. San Jose was also the last team in the NHL to play their first game of the season. In addition, it was the first Sharks regular season game with a full capacity crowd in over a year.
The first goal of the game came in the first period by the Jets' Pierre-Luc Dubois to grab an early 1-0 lead for Winnipeg. Early in the second, Andrew Copp scored to add on to the Jets' lead while shorthanded. Shortly after, Andrew Cogliano goes top shelf to score the Sharks' first goal of the 2021-22 campaign to get San Jose on the board and cut the Jets' lead in half. Logan Couture and Brent Burns were credited with the assists on Team Teal's first goal of the game and the season. Like the previous goal by the Jets, the Sharks' first one was scored while shorthanded. In the later half of the second period, Jasper Weatherby tallies his first NHL goal in his first NHL game off the primary feed from Erik Karlsson on the power play. Kevin Labanc was also involved on Weatherby's first NHL goal, recording the secondary assist on that play. Weatherby becomes the first Sharks player in five years to score in his NHL debut.
Early in the third period, Tomas Hertl finds a hole on Connor Hellebuyck off the rebound to score on the power play for his first goal of the season to give the Sharks their first lead of the night, 3-2. In addition, William Eklund gets his first NHL point with an assist on the go-ahead goal, and Jasper Weatherby gets his first NHL assist as well. Rudolfs Balcers notches what would end up being the game-winner a few minutes later as he was shoved into Connor Hellebuyck by Neal Pionk to extend the Sharks' lead. As the game-winner was being scored, the Jets took exception to Balcers colliding into Hellebuyck and all hell breaks loose. After things simmered down, Tomas Hertl hyped up the SAP Center crowd as he was heading to the penalty box for roughing against Neal Pionk.
The Jets added one more goal later in the third by Jansen Harkins, but it wasn't enough as the Sharks held on to win their first game of the new season.
Adin Hill was given the start in net for the Sharks and performed decently in his Sharks debut, making 20 saves on 23 shots against.
Before the game, Mario Ferraro was named an alternate captain for the Sharks, joining Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson, and Tomas Hertl.
To be fair, I was at work when this game was taking place, so I was unable to watch most of it live. However, I was able to stream the conclusion of the first period while on my meal break and watch highlight reels after getting home from work. Despite these circumstances not being ideal, that was one amazing season opener for the Sharks and one that this team can build off of for their next stretch of games coming up. The Sharks are already better this season than in the past two seasons, and they don't need Evander Kane in order to perform well. I understand that this is only the first game and the rest of the season is totally unpredictable, but I have renewed optimism in the retooled Sharks and feel great about their chances of making the playoffs in a relatively weak Pacific Division.
Up Next: The Sharks will embark on a lengthy early-season road trip starting in Montreal on Tuesday against the Canadiens. Puck drop for Tuesday's game is at 4 pm PT.
Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL App & YouTube channel, Kevin Kurz via Twitter
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