Third game’s a charm for ex-Shark Jumbo to score with new team
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Sharks
Third game’s a charm for ex-Shark Jumbo to score with new team
If seeing Joe Thornton wear a uniform other than the Sharks’ remains weird, how would you feel watching him score?
Thornton, 41, scored his first goal (and point) with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, making it 1-1 in the first period against the Ottawa Senators. Playing with the much younger Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, both 23, Thornton scored off the rush thanks in part to his linemates’ speed.
Scoring in his third game with Toronto, Thornton became the second-oldest player to score a goal for the Maple Leafs. His goal Saturday was the first he scored for a team other than the Sharks since Nov. 19, 2005, when Thornton scored for the Boston Bruins against the Buffalo Sabres. Boston traded Thornton to San Jose just 11 days later.
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The third game was the charm for Thornton, Matthews and Marner to find the back of the net together. Through two games, the Maple Leafs hadn’t scored with the trio on the ice, despite controlling 69.77 percent of the 5-on-5 shot attempts and 76.19 percent of the full-strength scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Thornton’s goal Saturday could be the first of many in blue and white, but it’ll be no less strange for Sharks fans to seem him in any color other than teal.