The San Jose Sharks fought their technique to an equalizer against the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday after falling behind by three goals early within the second period.
The only thing the Sharks lacked was the crowning glory.
Barclay Goodrow tied the sport with a goal at 17:36 of the third period, however the Sharks were unable to attain in additional time despite an influence play. They also couldn't beat goaltender Samuel Ersson within the shootout in a 4-3 loss to the Flyers on the Wells Fargo Center.
Defenseman Jack Thompson and center Mikael Granlund also scored for the Sharks, who saved a degree with the comeback and now have a record of 5-2-1 since an 0-7-2 begin to the season.
The Sharks trailed 3-0 early before William Eklund led the comeback, establishing goals from Thompson and Granlund with lower than five minutes left within the second period.
Goodrow then tied the sport late within the third period. A pass from Henry Thrun from contained in the blue line was redirected on to Goodrow, who deflected a check and scored near the Flyers' net.
After additional time, the Sharks were unable to attain within the shootout as Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith did not capitalize on their probabilities. Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny each beat Sharks goaltender Vitek Vanecek with their shootout probabilities.
Goodrow's tackle on Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler on the 12:09 mark of the second period appeared to fireplace up the Sharks, who were also playing in New Jersey on Sunday and didn't look as engaged as they needed to in the primary half of the sport.
“We just couldn’t get into the game,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “We had some momentum at times, we did some good things at times, but we just couldn't play with the same energy and competitiveness that we did (Sunday) night.”
Nevertheless, the Sharks were only down 3-2 before the third period, due to some sensible plays from Eklund and his team.
The Sharks conceded goals to Erik Johnson and Konecny in the primary period and a breakaway goal to Michkov at 5:09 of the second period to fall behind 3-0.
On the third goal, Smith turned the puck over the boards contained in the Flyers zone, and two passes later Michkov, who had split the Sharks' defense, was alone on Vanecek before scoring his fifth goal of the season.
“You don’t want to dig a hole like that right from the start,” Goodrow said. “But when we were there I thought we fought hard to get it back. Of course we would have been happy about that extra point, but no, I think we did well to get into extra time.”
Thompson's goal got here at 15:29 of the second period when he joined the push and redirected a pass from Eklund past Ersson to chop the deficit to 3-1.
About three minutes later, Eklund continued to maneuver his feet and put the puck behind the web before passing it to Granlund, who fired it high down the short side past Ersson, cutting the result in 3-2.
“Look at (Eklund), he really gets into the forecheck and is the first guy down,” Granlund said. “He’s really into skating right now.”
It was only shortly before the sport that it became publicly known whether Celebrini would play against the Flyers.
On Monday morning, Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky wouldn’t commit to playing Celebrini since the lineup for the sport had not yet been determined.
Warsofsky said the Sharks have different plans for Celebrini and fellow teenage rookie Smith. Initially, it looked like each would get occasional “development days,” not less than in the primary half of the season. Perhaps Celebrini will now experience fewer of today than the 19-year-old Smith.
Smith has had 4 such days this season, including Sunday night when the Sharks beat the New Jersey Devils 1-0 behind goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood's 44 saves.
Celebrini missed 12 games from October 12 to November 2 because of a hip injury, but has picked up 4 points within the 4 games he has played this season.
The Sharks at the moment are 2-2-1 with Celebrini within the lineup and 3-7-2 without him. When asked whether Celebrini's prolonged absence affected the Sharks' original plan for him, Warsofsky declined to elaborate.
Michkov returned to the Philadelphia lineup after missing the last two games.
Michkov had two points on Monday and now has 12 points in 14 games for the Flyers thus far this 12 months. He, Celebrini and Smith are considered three of the very best candidates to win the Calder Trophy because the NHL's top rookie this season. Michkov was chosen seventh overall by the Flyers last 12 months, three spots after the Sharks drafted Smith.
WALMAN STILL OUTSIDE: Defenseman Jake Walman missed his fourth straight game on Monday and continues to battle an upper-body injury suffered within the Sharks' loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Nov. 2.
Walman didn’t play within the Sharks' game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on November fifth. He was suspended for failing to indicate up for treatment on a day without work, violating a team rule. Officially, he has missed the last three games because of the injury.
WHAT’S NEXT: The Sharks finish the road trip with games against the New York Rangers on Thursday and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.
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