SAN JOSE –- It was Logan Couture’s best offensive performance in some time on Thursday against Calgary, as the 26-year-old had his first four-point night in nearly three years.
He also accrued a few battle wounds on his way to tallying a goal and three assists in the Sharks’ 6-5 shootout loss to the Flames. Not only was Couture whacked in the back of the leg by Deryk Engelland in the second period on a blatant slash that went unpenalized, he also has a trip to the dentist scheduled for Friday afternoon after taking a butt-end to the mouth from Mark Giordano in the first period.
It’s the second time in two years that Couture has needed work on his front left tooth, and, somewhat amazingly, Giordano was to blame for both.
“Same tooth, same player,” Couture said on Friday.
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On Jan. 17, 2015, Couture took a high stick from Giordano that left his tooth significantly chipped. Thursday night’s play was a virtual carbon copy, according to Couture.
“Same play, right off the same faceoff on the power play,” he said. “Last time it was a high stick, this time it was a butt-end.”
Couture said that Thursday night’s incident was inadvertent, but wasn’t convinced that last year’s was a complete accident.
“The first time should have been a penalty, this time it was incidental.”
What wasn’t incidental was Engelland taking a two-handed chop to Couture’s left ankle with about 12 minutes to go in the second period after Couture was digging for a loose puck around goalie Karri Ramo. It was a dirty play, plain and simple, and left coach Pete DeBoer fuming right on through a TV timeout. Referee Jean Hebert was standing about five feet away from the play, but Engelland wasn’t punished. He got an earful from the Sharks' coach.
Couture has already had his right ankle broken this season, forcing him to miss two months, but neither DeBoer nor Couture thought Engelland was specifically targeting that area.
“I would hope he’s not targeting that,” DeBoer said. “I would think the code among NHL players is such that no one would do that. That would be my expectation. I would be real disappointed if he was.”
Couture said: “I don’t think he was targeting, no. It just happened that he slashed me in the ankle area. I obviously took a stab at what I thought was the puck, and they’re just trying to protect their goalie. It’s part of hockey, it’s just unfortunate that it was in the area I broke my ankle earlier.”
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Paul Martin agreed that DeBoer was particularly animated in showing his displeasure towards the referees, and that’s just fine by the veteran defenseman.
“That’s the right thing,” Martin said. “When something happens like that to one of your better players…to be able to show passion or to care about your teammates and try and get a call out of it is something that is a part of the game the coaches play. Try and make sure players are protected, and see what you can get out of it.”
Despite all he went through, Couture will be fine to play against the Coyotes on Saturday when the Sharks wrap up a brief two-game homestand against another club they would like to keep their distance from in the Pacific Division standings. Arizona, which hosts the Flames on Friday, is seven points behind the second-place Sharks.
Couture will get a chance to build off of an outstanding game from him and his linemates Joonas Donskoi and Tommy Wingels, who also scored goals against the Flames.
“From our first shift on as a line it just felt like it was going to be one of those nights where the puck was following us around,” Couture said.
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Brenden Dillon is likely to miss his second straight game against the Coyotes, according to DeBoer. That means Matt Tennyson will remain in the lineup despite the defenseman only getting two shifts in the third period, and none in the second half of the second period.
“He didn’t get a ton of minutes because it was such a special teams game, which was unfortunate because I really liked how he looked early,” DeBoer said. “Hopefully he can play like that again tomorrow night.”
Martin, who left the game briefly late in the third period after taking a high elbow from Sam Bennett, is also fine.
“I feel pretty good,” Martin said. “Neck a little sore just from getting clipped, but for the most part it’s nothing serious or different from how I’d expect.”
Martin said he did not have to go through any sort of concussion protocol, and returned to the ice to close out the end of the third period of what was a 5-5 game.
“There was not a point where I thought I had any kind of head trauma or a concussion that I’d have to take any kind of test,” Martin said.
