Photo credit: San Jose Sharks

By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Wednesday, November 22, 2017

GLENDALE, Ariz. – It wasn’t that long ago that the San Jose Sharks could have easily looked past their NHL Pacific Division game Wednesday against the Arizona Coyotes, a team that has struggled for most of the season.

The Coyotes were trying to win a fourth consecutive game for the first time since January 4 to 12 of last year. Arizona had a three-game winning streak at the end of their recent Canadian road trip against the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs.

A key penalty kill followed by Joe Thornton’s third goal of the season set the tone for the Sharks in their 3-1 victory before 11,214 fans at Gila River Arena.

Joe Pavelski and Joel Ward also tallied for San Jose, while goaltender Martin Jones turned away 26 of 27 shots. The Sharks took 25 shots.

The Sharks’ win snapped a three-game winless streak for San Jose (11-8-1, 23 points). It was San Jose’s first victory since Nov. 12 at Los Angeles.

“We got enough offense to win. That’s all that matters,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “On the road in a tough environment, (the Coyotes) are playing well, and I thought we played a good road game.”

Jones noted the importance of scoring first, adding, “I think we defended really well. We had a lot of jump in the first period, I thought, but we stuck with good structure against a team that’s always tough to play against, and we kind of wore them down.”

“We played a real tight team game,” Thornton said. “(The Coyotes have been playing real good with three wins in a row, so to come in here, kill off some big penalties early, that was a huge thing for us.”

At 10:49 of the first period, San Jose’s Logan Couture was called for interference, and at 12:10, Brent Burns joined him in the box after a slashing call, giving Arizona a two-man advantage for 39 seconds.

DeBoer said, “That was a tough one to kill. Any time there’s a marginal penalty it seems like you end up 5-on-3 and that’s what usually happens. We found a way, and our PK has been solid all year. We have confidence with it with Jonesey back there.”

“The three guys that were out there did a great job of not giving them anything,” Couture said. “(The Coyotes) didn’t get a great look; a great job by our killers.”

“That was huge,” Thornton said. “A 5-on-3 early on, then a 5-on-4, it was a big step up for our penalty killers and that could have won us the game.”

The Coyotes (5-16-3, 13 points) were held to one shot on goal during the 5-on-3. After killing the remaining Arizona power play, Joe Pavelski won a draw to the left of Coyotes goaltender Antti Raanta, Burns took the pass in the slot, his shot deflected off Timo Meier and Thornton poked in the rebound.

“I’m starting to feel better,” Thornton said. “I was banged up for a little while, so I’m starting to feel better. My legs feel stronger, and it’s nice to get healthy.”

Thornton credited the addition of Meier, along with Pavelski, as a key to the Sharks’ first-line success.

“Timo brought a lot of energy, a lot of chances, and me and Pav really like playing with him right now,” Thornton said.

“That was a big goal at the right time,” DeBoer said. “We’ve been waiting for those guys to get on the board. It hasn’t been for lack of effort, but it’s nice to get the big guys scoring.”

Raanta suffered an upper-body injury after colliding with Couture and departed moments before Thornton’s goal, and was replaced by Scott Wedgewood after making nine saves. Wedgewood stopped 15 of 17 shots in relief.

San Jose made it 2-0 at 4:56 of the second period on Couture’s 11th goal of the season, and his first in five games. Couture took a pass from Joonas Donskoi, maneuvered past the Coyote defense with the forehand, then beat the sprawling Wedgewood with a backhand shot from a left angle.

“It’s tough to win in this league when you score only two,” Couture said. “It helped to hold (Arizona) off early. They’ve got some good, young players and they’re learning how to win. They’re a tough team to play against.’

Arizona cut its deficit to 2-1 on Brendan Perlini’s sixth goal of the season. Oliver Ekman-Larsson intercepted a Sharks clearing pass at the blue line, passed to Derek Stepan, whose shot in the left slot was redirected by Perlini past Jones’ stick side.

After Wedgewood was pulled for a sixth attacker, Joel Ward scored an unassisted empty-net goal at 19:12 of the third period.

The Sharks road trip continues with a visit to the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday before returning to SAP Center to host Winnipeg on Saturday.