SAN JOSE–Saturday night the San Jose Sharks took on the Carolina Hurrricanes’ at SAP Center looking to get back on track after losing their last two outings.  Friday night San Jose lost a close one to the rival Anaheim Ducks 3-2.  They also lost to Ottawa on Wednesday 4-2 losing some ground in the Pacific division which cannot get any tighter.  Three points separate the top five teams in the division.  The Sharks are currently 2 points behind the first place Ducks. The Sharks won a nailbiter in a one goal victory 4-3 against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night.

San Jose wasted no time in the opening period when at 0:12 Patrick Marleau scored his 7th goal of the season assisted by Justin Braun and Joe Thornton for the early 1-0 lead.  The Hurricanes would answer less than two minutes later.  At 1:59 Carolina’s Lee Stempniak would score a power play goal his 5th of the season. He was assisted by Jaccob Slavin and Teuvo Teravainen to tie up the game at 1-1.  At 3:14 the Sharks would take back the lead off the stick of Paul Martin for his first goal of the season.  The assists in that goal were Mikkel Boedker and Melker Karlsson giving San Jose a 2-1 lead that would hold through the first period.  Shots on goal were pretty even with Carolina having the edge with 11 shots to San Jose’s 10.  San Jose goalie Aaron Dell made some spectacular saves preserving the lead for the Sharks.

At 11:02 a San Jose power play backfired badly when a broken play allowed Carolina’s Joakim Nordstrom to break free for a short-handed goal to tie up the game 2-2.  That tie was short-lived when San Jose’s Logan Courture was assisted by Brent Burns and Joel Ward took back the lead at 12:18, 3-2.  This was Couture’s 11th goal of the season.  The Sharks were not finished scoring when minutes later at 14:10 Kevin Labanc shot his 4th goal.  Thornton and DeMelo assisted extending their lead to 4-2.  Even though the Hurricanes had shot 22 times to the Sharks 14 it was all San Jose with less than a minute left in the 2nd period.  San Jose had taken only 4 shots on goal in the period finding the net on two of them.

At 3:42 in the third period Carolina pulled to within one goal, on a power play, when Derek Ryan scored his fourth goal of the season.  He was assisted by Victor Rask and Jeff Skinner.  Looking at a 4-3 lead, San Jose had to dig deep to maintain control of this game.  It was a hard fought final period with the Sharks protecting their lead and winning the game.

The Sharks will have little time to enjoy the win as they head back out on the road to take on the Maple Leafs next Tuesday.  The puck drops at 4:30 PST.  They will also play the Senators, the Canadiens and the Blackhawks before heading back home for a date with the Flames on 12/20.