SAN JOSE — Eight days ago after the Sharks suffered their fourth straight loss to start the season, Evander Kane — back in the lineup after he completed a three-game suspension — said it was clear he and his teammates needed to start playing a smarter game.
“We’ve got to figure out how we want to play,” Kane said Oct. 8 after the Sharks’ 5-2 loss to the Nashville Predators. “We’re not scoring a lot of goals. … We’ve got to realize that when you’ve a team on the ropes, let’s just keep them there.”
Among the biggest areas of growth for the Sharks in the last week has been the way they’ve managed games and managed the puck, and they were rewarded for that heady play Wednesday with a 5-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.