We are in rare territory this morning following the San Jose Sharks first opening night loss in seven seasons. San Jose fell 5-3 to the Philadelphia Flyers at the Tank in a game that can only be described as frustrating.
The Sharks fell behind by a pair of goals early, rallied, fell behind again, rallied and ultimately succumbed due to a self-inflicted parade to the penalty box. When you allow any team, even a mediocre Philly team, to score on their first three power plays it's going to be a very long night.
Sophomore winger, Kevin Labanc, had himself a roller coaster of a night.
Labanc was called for tripping Flyers rookie Nolan Patrick at the 9:21 mark of the third leading to one of Wayne Simmonds three goals in the game. Earlier, Labanc was called for goalie interference in the first period and slashing in the second period. Both times, the Flyers capitalized with the man-advantage.
Philly ended the night 3-of-5 on the power play.
Labanc also scored a pair of goals in the first period to pull the Sharks out an early 2-0 deficit. He collected his first goal of the season on a rebound at 17:17 of the first to cut the Flyers lead in half. He tied the game at 2-2 in the waning moments of the period with a power-play goal of his won. The pair of first period goals on opening night was a San Jose Sharks first.
That said, his goal scoring prowess will be overshadowed by the penalties. It's very clear the NHL and the referees are cracking down hard on many of the oft overlooked infractions. Labanc and his Sharks' teammates are going to have to adapt quickly to how the game is being called or risk more nights like Wednesday.
Okay, they lost. Move on.
There were some bright spots to build on in game one of 82.
1. Labanc did score twice, equally the number of goals Patrick Marleau had in his Toronto debut. The offense is encouraging and a sign the youngster is gifted around the net.
2. Martin Jones made 26 stops. He wasn't spectacular but solid as always.
3. Logan Couture scored a goal, while Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski each had an assist.
4. Brent Burns assisted on Couture's goal. The assist gave him 500 points for his NHL career.
5. SJ fired 35 shots on goal and finished 2-for-6 on their power play.
The offense looked better than I expected but the defense was suspect. Opposite of what I expected. A few tweaks and we may have a team here.
Thanks for reading, Steve