San Jose Sharks defenseman Brent Burns has saved his most memorable goals this season for games against his former team.
Less than a minute into the Sharks’ game with the Minnesota Wild on Monday, Burns, following the puck up the ice, took a pass from Timo Meier in the neutral zone. He then chipped the puck to himself around Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin, moved it from his forehand to backhand and roofed a shot past goalie Kaapo Kahkonen 45 seconds into the first period.
If fans were allowed inside SAP Center to see it, they undoubtedly would have been on their feet.
“Just a weird happenstance there,” Burns told Bret Hedican on the NBC Sports California broadcast during the first intermission. “(Meier) made a great kind of spin pass there and I was already kind of going with speed, so, just one of those weird things I guess.”
Burns’ play evoked memories of a similarly dazzling goal he scored Jan. 24, also on Minnesota goalie Kahkonen.
After a faceoff win by Tomas Hertl, Burns took control of the puck, stick-handled toward the Minnesota net, dancing around all five Wild skaters, before he roofed a shot past Kahkonen for what was then his second goal of the season. The goal came with less than two minutes left in the third period and broke a 3-3 tie. The Sharks would go on to win 5-3.
Burnzie does it again! Sharks up 1-0. #SJSharks | #MNWild pic.twitter.com/IitQTsx09N
— TEAL TOWN USA – A San Jose Sharks Podcast (@TEALTOWNUSA) February 23, 2021
Monday, after the Burns’ goal, the Wild responded with two goals in 11 seconds later in the first period to take a 2-1 lead. Mats Zuccarello scored at the 7:49 mark with a wrist shot from the slot that beat Sharks goalie Martin Jones, and Kirill Kaprizov scored at 8:00, tipping a shot past Jones off a pass from Zuccarello.
“It’s tough to give up two in one shift,” Burns said.
Burns spent his first seven NHL seasons with the Wild from 2003 to 2011 before he was acquired by the Sharks in a blockbuster deal that also saw Devin Setoguchi and Charlie Coyle and San Jose’s first round pick (Zack Phillips) in 2011 got to the Wild.
Before the of the first period, the Sharks picked up their first fighting major of the season, and defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov dropped the gloves with Wild heavyweight Marcus Foligno. The scrap was one-sided, with Foligno landing several right hands before and cutting Knyzhov before the linesmen stopped the bout.
The Sharks on Monday were looking to win back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Sharks are coming off a 5-4 win over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
Source: By Curtis Pashelka
