The Sharks' Thursday night meeting with the Stars was expected to be tough, but nobody expected how absolutely relentless the pace would be.
Dallas broke a second-period tie after capitalizing on San Jose’s defensive mishaps and notching two quick goals. Joe Pavelski brought the Sharks within one goal before the second intermission, and Evander Kane got off the schneid when he tied the game in the third frame.
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Unfortunately for Team Teal, the Stars snatched back the lead when Devin Shore’s shot took a weird angle past Martin Jones and gave Dallas the 4-3 decision.
Here are three takeaways from Thursday’s game in Texas:
Martin Jones made some of his best saves of the season
The final score of the game -- particularly the two quick goals by Dallas in the second period -- were really unfortunate, given how stellar Jones looked. He made the high-quality saves that many Sharks fans grew accustomed to over the last few seasons.
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Jones was particularly dominant when the pace of the game reached ridiculous heights. In a game that speedy, there is a higher chance of making mistakes -- which we saw when the defense got tripped up and Dallas was able to notch two quick goals in the second.
Jones really buckled down after that, as the offense in front of him brought the game to a tie, and he continued to give the Sharks a chance to get back in the game after the Stars took the 4-3 lead by stopping breakaways by Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin.
Erik Karlsson is a man on a mission
This marked the second game in a row that the award-winning defenseman was all over the puck. Sure, that’s partly because he’s logging ridiculous minutes every game. But it’s also because he’s launching the puck at the net every chance he gets. At the halfway point of the third period, he led all Sharks with six shots.
There’s been so much discussion regarding how long it has taken for EK65 to adjust to his new team. Although he hasn’t found the back of the net yet, it’s clear the confidence level in his game is reaching new heights. Fear not, fans -- he will find the back of the net.
Milestone game
You really can’t talk about this game without talking about all the milestones that members of Team Teal reached.
Of course, the big talk of the night was that it was Joe Thornton’s 1,500th career NHL game. As if that wasn’t enough, he notched the secondary assist on Pavelski’s second-period goal to come within one apple of tying Mario Lemieux on the NHL’s all-time assists list. Thornton was so close to notching his 400th goal as well -- if Sharks arch nemesis Anton Khudobin hadn’t been there to make snatch away history.
Brent Burns got in on the action as well with the primary assist on that same goal. Setting up Pavelski earned Burns his 400th career assist.
