The Sharks staved off a late comeback from the Stars and held on to snap a five-game skid in a 5-4 victory in Dallas.
This is a big relief for this Sharks team that they got over the hump and back in the win column for their fourth win of the season. But first, I have to start with how this game began. With under five minutes into the first period, Jamie Benn scores to put the Stars on the board. The Sharks answer back a few minutes later on the man advantage via Alexander Barabanov's first goal of the season, with assists from Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture. Team Teal gained their first lead of the night about six minutes later on a goal by Evgeny Svechnikov from Oskar Lindblom and Steven Lorentz, only to lose that lead right before the first intermission on Jamie Benn's second of the game for the Stars to tie it at two.
Early in the second period, Timo Meier scores his seventh goal of the season, extending his point and goal streak to five games. Kevin Labanc recorded the lone assist on the Timo Meier goal. It was only a matter of seconds before the Sharks built a two-goal lead via Logan Couture's sixth goal of the year. Alexander Barabanov picked up the lone helper on the Captain Cooch goal. Late in the middle frame, Logan Couture fought Jamie Benn in a very unlikely tilt to complete his first-ever Gordie Howe hat trick (goal, assist, and fight).
The Sharks' first line continues to stay productive early in the third period, with Tomas Hertl scoring his fourth goal of the season to extend San Jose's lead to three. Timo Meier and Jaycob Megna were credited with the assists on what was also Hertl's 400th point of his NHL career. A bit later in the third, the Stars mounted a comeback, adding two more goals via Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski to cut their deficit to one. It seemed at that point as if the Stars had all the momentum late in the third, and the Sharks were bound to blow yet another multi-goal lead and find another way to lose. Fortunately, Team Teal never lost their lead in the third period and held on for a much-needed win.
James Reimer was back in net against the Stars, recording 25 saves.
San Jose needed this win badly and got the job done. It may have been a bit ugly, but they should be okay with any kind of win this season to inject more confidence in this group and continue to show the hockey world that they have something to prove. Not only has the top forward line been excellent thus far, but the Sharks have been able to find scoring from their depth forwards as well, which was a huge factor in helping them get back into the win column. Hopefully this is the beginning of a lengthy hot streak for the Sharks. Next up, the Sharks travel to Minnesota to face the Wild on Sunday at 3 pm PT.
Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL App
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