The San Jose Sharks ended a three game skid with a 5-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday at The Tank. Captain Logan Couture made his return debut after missing the first 45 games of the season with an undisclosed injury.
Before Saturday’s game, Couture revealed that the lower-body injury plaguing him was osteitis pubis, an inflammation of the pubic structures. In 2022-2023, Couture played all 82 games of the season (for the second time in his career), logging 67 points.
Late in the first, Filip Zadina scored a goal that was quickly overturned after being offside.
Going into the second the Ducks led the shots on goal 13-2. The Sharks finally lit up the lamp when captain Couture fed the puck to Marc-Edouard Vlasic making the game 1-0. Vlasic now has two goals in his last five games.
The Ducks had a sneaky goal from Jackson LaCombe make it across the red line to tie the game 1-1. Adam Henrique assisted on the shot.
With minutes left in the second, Kyle Burroughs scored his first goal as a Shark assisted by Tomas Hertl.
Just seconds left in the period, Fabian Zetterlund played up the inside and made a quick shot to put the score to 3-1. Ryan Carpenter assisted on the goal.
“You see why we traded for him,” head coach David Quinn said on Zetterlund’s goal following the game.
Anaheim’s Henrique responded with a goal at 19:56 in the period to put the Ducks within one. Troy Terry and Leo Carlsson picked up assists on the late goal.
In the third period, the Sharks’ defenseman Jan Rutta made it a two-goal game again with assists from Zetterlund and Mike Hoffman. Zetterlund has three points in his last five games. Along with Burroughs, this was Rutta’s first goal as a Shark.
At 15:11 the Ducks’ Mason McTavish scored on the power play assisted by Terry. McTavish earned the second star of the night for his goal and assist.
With seconds remaining, Nico Sturm fed the puck to Hertl to seal the deal with an empty netter. Along with Couture, Sturm also made his return to play after five weeks dealing with a wrist injury.
While San Jose was outshot 34-19, the returns of Couture and Sturm no doubt helped the team bring home victory.
“We just looked better,” Quinn said after the win, “If you had to rate our competitive players, they’re [Sturm and Couture] probably at the top of the list.”
Couture logged two minutes of penalty infraction in his return and kept his physicality throughout each shift.
The captain told the press, “With being injured you know I haven’t hit anyone in a long time. Just a test to see how I felt, and I felt good so I kept doing it.”
Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood made 31 saves in the game.
“Winning is as good as it gets,” Couture said, “Especially in this league. I know we can clean up a lot and play a lot better.”
Team Teal can look to the next five games before the All-Star break to develop chemistry in their updated roster. The Sharks take on the Los Angeles Kings away from home ice on Monday.
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