Photo credit: Mike Carlson AP Photo

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ After San Jose lost versus Tampa Bay last time, the Sharks returned the favor in a 4-2 win Tuesday.

It was all even strength goals this time around as San Jose evened the season series.

The Sharks kicked off their longest road trip of February with a second straight road win. This allowed them to gain ground on at least the Los Angeles Kings.

According to Darin Stephens, San Jose goalie Martin Jones when facing 30+ shots, is now 12-0-2 this season.

The only action of the first period came at 17:51. Lightning Andrej Sustr started the play from the other side and passed the puck to Alex Killorn, who was at the blue line. Killorn then found an open Ryan Callahan.

Things got a lot more active on the ice in the second.

Joel Ward tied the game through traffic 1:43 into the second period. The play started similarly to Tampa’s, as the puck moved quickly from Marc-Edouard Vlasic in the defensive zone, to Matt Nieto in the neutral zone before hitting Ward inside the blue line. Vlasic’s career high now reaches eight straight in points and assists.

The Sharks’ top line then made a 2-1 cash in at 6:34. Joe Pavelski actually started the play by getting the puck along the boards to Tomas Hertl. Hertl then sent the puck back that way past Pavelski to Joe Thornton, as Pavelski moved in front of net. With the attention on Thornton, he made the scoring pass as Pavelski slapped the puck past goalie Bishop. It was Pavelski’s first goal in February.

The Lightning re-tied the game at 8:46. J.T. Brown got the puck along the boards and passed to Cedric Paquette. As he did so, the puck hit Vlasic’s stick, Paquette created space from defender Justin Braun and scored through traffic from the faceoff circle.

The game winner 1:17 into the third was a different type of goal. Ward started it with a shot against the boards and in a speedy 2-on-1, Marleau passed to Nieto cross ice, who snuck the puck in between Bishop’s skate and the goal post. It was Nieto’s first multipoint game since October 13.

Tampa Bay had three penalties in the period, including a misconduct at the time San Jose scored their final goal.

Showing they were not content with the lead, the fourth and first line combined to score at 18:17. Thornton along the boards passed behind to Melker Karlsson, who scored for the first time in February too.

Game notes: Thornton now has a six game point streak. Burns had nine shots on goal. Lightning Braydon Coburn had five hits. The Sharks next play the Florida Panthers Thursday at 4:30pm.