SAN JOSE,Calif. (AP) - Timo Meier says he isn’t a big stats guy. The San Jose Sharks’ forward insists his focus is on winning.
“My goal is to help the team win games and to do as much as I can,” he said. “I’m not a numbers guy. I’m not focusing on numbers, only to be the best player I can be.”
He was every bit the player the Sharks needed on Saturday night.
Meier got his second goal of the game 13 seconds into overtime and the Sharks rallied to beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3.
Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton also scored for San Jose, and Martin Jones finished with 22 saves.
Nolan Patrick, Jordan Weal and Jakub Voracek scored for Philadelphia, which was looking to sweep the California portion of its trip after beating Anaheim and Los Angeles earlier in the week. Oskar Lindblom had two assists and Cal Pickard stopped 29 shots in his third start.
Meier’s winning goal was his 11th on the season, and eighth in his last seven games.
“He’s been great,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. “Thankfully he’s off to the start he’s off to. We need him. We needed somebody to step up.”
Logan Couture assisted the game-winner, extending his career-best point streak to nine games.
Thornton’s first goal of the season with just under 5 minutes left in the third tied the score 3-3.
Thornton, 39, missed nearly half of last season after undergoing knee surgery on his right MCL, and just came off injured reserve with swelling in the same knee.
“Great for Joe,” DeBoer said. “Great for him to get one. He’s been through an awful lot, worked his (butt) off for months here to get back. I think it’s appropriate that he was the guy that got us back in the game. So that was awesome.”
Voracek had given the Flyers the lead with 30 seconds remaining in the second.
Patrick opened the scoring just 37 seconds into the game, and Meier tied it at 3:15.
Weal put the Flyers back ahead with 3:20 left in the opening period, but Pavelski evened the score again just past the midpoint of the second.
“I’m (upset) about losing tonight, so that’s all I evaluated,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. “Not worried about the last two games and I’m not worried about the next game. I don’t like the way we lost the game tonight and that’s that. But we had a lot of guys that battled hard tonight and that park I like. We came into a tough building, we fought for a point, we wanted the next point.”
NOTES: Flyers G Michal Neuvirth (lower body injury) was sent back to Philadelphia to meet with team doctors. … Sharks coach Pete DeBoer shook up his team’s lineup, moving F Evander Kane to the first line and returning Meier to the second line. Rookie C Rourke Chartier skated on the third line in place of rookie Antti Suomela, a healthy scratch. . C Tomas Hertl left the game in the second period. DeBoer said he experienced a head injury, the extent of which wasn’t immediately known.
UP NEXT
Flyers: Conclude their four-game road trip on Monday in Arizona.
Sharks: Host Minnesota on Tuesday.
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