By: Phillip Torres

NEW YORK- The San Jose Sharks (44-17-7) defeated the New York Islanders (25-24-9) in New York on Friday night. The Sharks defeated the Islanders 4-3 pushing their winning streak to five games. The win came against Evgeni Nabokov, the former San Jose Shark’s goaltender.The victory put the Sharks in first place tie with the Anaheim Ducks in the Pacific Division. 

San Jose got on the board first at 13:27 after Matt Nieto scored his tenth goal of the season on a wrist sheet. Patrick Marleau and Logan Couture earned the two assists on the play. The sharks doubled their lead to make it 2-0 after a goal from Jason Demers. His wrist shot at 14:46 was assisted James Sheppard and Marty Havlat. 

New York answered quickly in the second period with a goal less than one minute in. Anders Lee knocked in a backhand shot into the net at 32 seconds into the second frame. Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen assisted the score to pull the Islanders to within one goal. 

The second frame of the game was the most explosive period offensively in the contest. Joe Thornton put the Sharks lead back to two goals with his tenth of the season. Thornton’s wrist shot into the net was assisted by Brent Burns at 9:32. 

Brock Nelson made it a 3-2 game with a goal for the Islanders late in the frame. Nelson tipped the puck in after assisted by Josh Bailey and Matt Donovan. The last score of the period belonged to the Sharks. Havlat knocked in a wrist shot at 18:15. Sheppard earned the lone assist on the play.

Nielsen scored the last goal of the game with less than one minute remaining to make it 4-3. The score was the eventual final score and the Sharks victory made it their fifth consecutive.

The Sharks will be back on the ice on Sunday as they will stay in New York to face off against the New York Rangers. The Rangers will be a tougher challenge as they are currently have 26 wins on the season. The puck will drop at 1:00 PM.