~ PC: Jim Mone AP Photo

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ San Jose cruised to a franchise record 28th road win with a 3-0 blanking of Minnesota Tuesday.

The Sharks also earned the NHL’s best road record, as they finished their last road game in the regular season.

San Jose’s James Reimer made 29 saves in his third shutout for the team, all of them within the last month. Teammate Patrick Marleau had two goals for the first time since October 10.

It was the Wild’s fourth straight loss, but it was not the worst loss, as with the Colorado Avalanche’s loss as well, Minnesota was able to clinch the playoffs for the fourth straight year.

The Wild struggled with two goals or less again in their losing streak. The last time they were shutout though was January 16.

Meanwhile, it was the Sharks’ seventh consecutive game with at least two goals. They last shutout their opponent March 20.

Logan Couture struck first at 4:43 of the first period with his only shot of the game. After a cross ice pass from Joonas Donskoi on his left, Brenden Dillon shot towards the net. Couture then grabbed the deflection in the air and scored as he pushed toward the net, with Joel Ward in the mix.

Marleau made sure to get his first goal the second time around. Coming from behind the net, Brent Burns passed it to Joe Thornton, who passed around the horn to Couture. Couture shot the puck against the boards and Marleau shot it past Devan Dubnyk at 5:31 of the second period.

Minnesota’s Erik Haula narrowly missed with a post shot in the second.

Marleau scored again at 18:15 of the third, aided by Melker Karlsson and Dillon.

Game notes: None of the Wild finished with a positive plus/minus rating. Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon returned with one shot, one hit and one block as he earned the third star of the game. Teammate Zac Dalpe had two shots and three hits in his debut for the team. San Jose lost faceoffs 34-18. The Sharks play their second to last game of the regular season Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets at 7:30pm.