San Jose Sharks coach David Quinn benched Kevin Labanc for about the first 10 minutes of the second period in Tuesday’s game against the Arizona Coyotes, feeling the winger’s effort on a first-period goal by Christian Fischer was lacking.
“I felt like I was serving a life sentence,” Labanc said of the benching.
Quinn, though, appreciated the way Labanc bounced back.
Labanc took a regular shift in the third period and assisted on Jaycob Megna’s insurance goal with 5:50 left in regulation time as the Sharks overcame a slow start to post a 4-2 win over the Coyotes at Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona.
Labanc was beside Fischer on the Coyotes’ blue line in the late stages of the first period, but the big Arizona forward saw an opening and darted up the middle of the ice unencumbered, leaving Labanc in his rearview mirror.
“He was my guy and I kind of let them off the hook there,” Labanc said of Fischer. “I should have played him a little bit harder, given him a bump or a nudge.
“I was too tight to him, and then he went past me and got that breakaway. So I’ve got to be a little bit more aware on the controlled breakouts.”
Fischer then took a pass from Shayne Gostisbehere, went in alone on Sharks goalie Kaapo Kahkonen and scored his eighth of the season to give the Coyotes a 2-1 lead with 3:39 left in the first period.
“Mistakes happen, but lack of effort can’t be one of the reasons why a mistake happens,” said Quinn, who added that Labanc after that moment had “a lot of great tracks, (did) a real good job in the middle of the rink, was responsible, forced turnovers. Did a really good job.”
“But I think it’s just making sure that you’re ready to play and you’re going to help the team win two points,” Labanc said of what message he took from Quinn. “So I think that was the message and I think I responded well.”
Labanc, who also scored in the first period, has largely had a career resurgence this season in Quinn’s first year with the Sharks (13-21-8).
Going into Wednesday’s game in Los Angeles against the Kings, Labanc now has 25 points in 41 games, putting him on pace for his best statistical season since 2018-2019 when he had 56 points in 82 games, mostly as Joe Thornton’s winger.
Although his ice time fluctuated in the early part of the season, as he was benched for an Oct. 20 game against the Rangers in his hometown of New York, Labanc has been a steady presence in the Sharks’ top six forward group for most of the last two months.
Amazingly enough, Labanc, a former OHL scoring champion, now has 18 blocked shots and 36 hits this season. His previous career bests in those categories are 24 and 66, respectively.
Quinn had said in the past that he has no issues with sitting a player down for an extended period of time if a mistake happens early in a game. But he’ll also give a player a chance to come back and redeem themselves, as he did with Labanc on Tuesday.
“Just didn’t like the second goal,” Quinn said when asked about the benching. “I thought there was more there from him, that he could have been a little bit more responsible, but I liked how he responded and that’s kind of what we anticipated.
“He’s a big piece of what we got going on here and he’s had a good year, and I liked the response.”
KARLSSON TRADE TALK: Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reported Tuesday that NHL teams have reached out to the Sharks to find out more about what a possible trade involving Erik Karlsson might look like.
Sharks general manager Mike Grier told reporters in Toronto in mid-November that he would listen to potential trade offers from other teams for Karlsson and other Sharks players. Since then, Karlsson has remained the NHL’s leading defenseman with 55 points in 42 games and is a bona fide contender for the Norris Trophy.
That has helped to keep teams interest in Karlsson alive, LeBrun said, with the NHL’s trade deadline now 52 days away on March 3.
LeBrun still believes any Karlsson trade is more likely to happen in the summer when teams know what exactly the NHL’s salary cap will be for the 2023-2024 season. Karlsson’s contract, which contains a full no-move clause, carries an $11.5 million cap hit and won’t expire until after the 2026-27 season.
For a deal to take place, the Sharks would likely have to retain money or take back a sizeable contract, and Karlsson would have to waive his NMC. Oh, and it also has to somehow make sense for the Sharks, since Karlsson has had a hand in about 41 percent of the Sharks’ goals so far this season.
FIRST IMPRESSION: The newest Shark, forward Mikey Eyssimont, dropped the gloves with Coyotes defenseman Josh Brown with 39 seconds left in the first period.
The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Brown might have won the fight, but the 6-foot, 180-pound Eyssimont, who was claimed off of waivers from the Winnipeg Jets on Friday, left his mark.
“He knows how to make an impression when you fight a guy twice your size, so you can see why we picked him up,” Quinn said. “He’s got a good pace to his game. He competes, he’s got pretty good stick skills. So I was happy with him the first night.”
Eyssimont came close to scoring in the first period but finished with three shots on goal in 9:16 of ice time.
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