The San Jose Sharks welcomed back captain Logan Couture and beat the Anaheim Ducks 5-3. Couture was a difference maker in the game, leading to the first goal of the game on a nice feed to…checks notes…Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Mackenzie Blackwood received the secondary assist on what might be the most unusual scoring statline combination you’ll see all season.
WELCOME BACK, CAPTAIN! 🦈
— NHL (@NHL) January 21, 2024
What a dish from Logan Couture in his first game of the season! pic.twitter.com/Am0UrdUFa9
After the game, Couture received the Player of the Game plaque in the lockerroom. His speech was short and sweet.
The Cap gets the Player of the Game trophy in his first game back! 🥺 pic.twitter.com/pbiebOpY6c
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) January 21, 2024
It was a special game for the captain, who has struggled all season long with injury. The fact that he’s missed 45 games is a testament to how bad the injury was. Couture is not the kind of player you can keep out of the lineup when he’s at just 80%, he still wants to play. You can check out our pregame post if you want more details on Couture’s injury.
The best part of the night, however, was hearing just how special it was for Couture. As he said in the postgame interview, he was able to skate as a professional hockey player in front of his son.
Couture on the emotions of the night: “My first game in a long time, first game where my son was able to be at for the first period. Saw him In warm up. So there's a lot of things going through my head there. In warm up. It almost felt surreal when I stepped down on the ice.”
— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) January 21, 2024
Couture influenced the game
It wasn’t just Couture that understood how important the game was; it was the players in the lockerroom as well. The captain set the tone early with a couple of hits during his first shift. He didn’t slow down as the game wore on and might have even picked up speed. Even in the latter part of the third period, Couture was laying hits and creating plays. He played on the power play, penalty kill and at even strength. In total, he had 19 shifts and 15:49 of ice time, according to Natural Stat Trick. The team said it wanted to wait until Couture was fully recovered to bring him back and it looks like management held true to that promise.
Couture’s play appeared to energize and influence the play on the ice and the atmosphere in SAP center. Fans enjoyed the game, which hasn’t happened a lot in the past few months. The players themselves, seemed to have a little extra jump simply because they wanted to win the game for their captain. While it wasn’t the prettiest of wins. Couture’s presence seemed to give the players a lot of jump.
Lots of chances, not a lot of shots
That didn’t always translate onto the score sheet. For example, the Sharks were outshot 20-7 in the first two periods of the game, but led on the scoreboard 3-2. The goals the Sharks scored were not breakdowns by John Gibson, but rather good hockey plays.
A lot of loud bangs echoed in SAP Center last night as the Sharks’ shots went wide of the net and hit the boards behind the goal. Other times, the puck never made it all the way to Gibson. There were too many skates, sticks and bodies in the shooting lanes selected by the Sharks’ defenders to get through to the netminder.
The Sharks adapted later in the game and the defense activated more.
All three goals scored by Sharks defensemen — Kyle Burroughs, Jan Rutta and Vlasic all scored) — came from the defensemen getting closer to the net. In Vlasic’s case, he was in on a two-on-one with Couture and finished the play. For Burroughs, he activated from the point and snuck in there to receive a pass below the faceoff dot. As for Rutta, he skated down near the dot to shoot through traffic and score.
While the Sharks were still outshot 19-34 in the game, the third period was much more even with the shots 12-14 in favor of the Ducks.
Highlight of the night Ducks at Sharks
There were more goals last night than most nights, but we’re giving the highlight of the night to Fabian Zetterlund who picked a spot and then roofed it to make the score 3-1 in the final minute of the second period.
ZETTERLUND MAKES IT 3-1 🤯 pic.twitter.com/f0wqvJ6MPm
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) January 21, 2024
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