Takeaways: How the Sharks youngsters made the Evander Kane trade happen

CALGARY, Alberta — The game-time decision proved to be the right decision.

Evander Kane recorded the first hat trick and four-goal game of his career Friday, propelling the Sharks to a 7-4 victory over the Calgary Flames in a Pacific Division battle loaded with playoff implications after he skipped the team’s morning practice with a lower-body injury.

Head coach Pete DeBoer labeled Kane, who missed two shifts in Edmonton Wednesday because of the injury, as a “game-time decision” Friday morning.

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What a decision it ended up being.

Here what we learned as the Sharks (39-23-9) improved to 3-0 against the Flames (35-27-10) this season.

1. Kane gets himself off ‘that list’.

After Kane celebrated his third goal by raising his arms up toward the rafters from his knees, he told his teammates, “oh my God, finally”.

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The goal at 16:32 of the second period marked the first hat trick of Kane’s eight-year NHL career. He entered the game with the most two-goal games (27) without scoring a hat trick among active-NHL players.

“I’m off that list with (Pavel) Datsyuk and (Al) MacInnis of most two-goal games,” Kane said. “I’ve been reminded of that for a while. It was great to be able to get the third, especially in a real important game.”

Although DeBoer labeled Kane as a “game-time decision” Friday morning, the 26-year-old forward admitted that he was planning to suit up against the Flames all along.

“I knew I was going to play,” Kane said. “It was more just precaution than anything and rest. Rest is a weapon. The training staff did a great job in getting me ready.”

Kane didn’t waste any time to make his presence felt, scoring the game’s opening goal six minutes into the first, beating goalie Mike Smith with a shot from just inside the blue line that appeared to redirect off defenseman Dougie Hamilton’s stick.

The 26-year-old forward tied the game at 2-2 with his second goal at 6:29 of the second, deflecting a point shot from Dylan DeMelo while he was tied up in front of the net with Flames defenseman Travis Hamonic. Kane completed the hat trick at 16:32 of the middle frame, putting the Sharks ahead 4-3 by hammering in the rebound of his own blocked shot from the doorstep.

Kane added a fourth goal at 1:02 of the third, his 25th of the year, pushing the Sharks lead to 6-3, by tapping in a Joe Pavelski pass from the side of the net. Three of Kane’s goals came after DeBoer promoted Chris Tierney up to the right wing of Pavelski’s line, replacing Jannik Hansen, who was filling in for the injured Joonas Donskoi.

With four goals on the night, Kane has now recorded 10 points in eight games since he joined the Sharks in a deal with the Buffalo Sabres at the trade deadline, proving he’s a good fit for the team. Kane is giving general manager Doug Wilson a lot to think about as he’ll become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

“He’s definitely made a huge impact on us as a team,” Pavelski said. “He’s been one of those guys driving the bus here for the last week or two and he came through big for us tonight.”

2. The Sharks youngsters helped inspire the Kane trade.

In training camp, DeBoer insisted that the Sharks would need youngsters, such as Donskoi, Tierney, Tomas Hertl, Kevin Labanc and Timo Meier, to take significant step forwards to absorb Patrick Marleau’s loss.

They’ve delivered and it propelled Wilson to pull the trigger on the Kane trade.

When Labanc tied the game at 3-3 with 8:18 left in the second period, he became the 12th Sharks player to record double digit goals this season, just the second time (1993-94) the squad has achieved the feat in franchise history.

In addition to Labanc’s 10 goals, Meier (18), Hertl (18), Tierney (17) and Donskoi (13) have reached the mark, along with veterans Logan Couture (28), Kane (25), Pavelski (18), Joe Thornton (13), Mikkel Boedker (13), Brent Burns (10) and Marc-Edouard Vlasic (10).

“We’ve done it by committee all year,” DeBoer said. “We got to the point where Doug felt he could go get Kane and give us a chance because of that scoring by committee, and because we’ve gotten contributions from everyone in the lineup.”

3. The Sharks own the Flames, Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks.

If the Sharks reach the playoffs, they might look back at their record against the three teams that are chasing them in the Pacific Division and say, that’s what did it.

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Sharks reach agreement with depth centerman on two-year deal With Friday’s win, the Sharks improved to 3-0 against the Flames and 9-1-1 against the Flames, Kings and Ducks.

The win also allowed the Sharks to regain their three-point lead over the Kings and Ducks for second place.

“Huge,” DeBoer said in regards to the Sharks’ Pacific Division record. “We keep winning games and we’re not moving. We’re not putting any space between us and anybody. We’ve just got to keep our heads down here and keep putting points in the bank.”

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