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Jones shuts down Hawks

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Photo credit: Charles Rex Arbogast AP Photo

~By Pearl Allison Lo

~San Jose Sharks goalie Martin Jones earned his first win against the Chicago Blackhawks  Tuesday, in a 2-0, 33-save win.

The last time Jones and San Jose had a shutout was January 9. On the other side, Chicago was shutout for the third time in seven games.

With the win, the Sharks remained in second place in the Pacific Division, as they halted the Blackhawks’ three-game win streak.

In the first, a goal by Chicago’s fourth line and former Shark Brandon Mashinter was waved off after a challenge based on goalie interference. San Jose is now 23-2-1 after scoring first. When leading or behind after two, respectively, the Sharks are now 20-0-2 and the Blackhawks 3-15-2.

San Jose outhit Chicago in the opening period 11-3. Five of the hits were made by Tommy Wingels. The Sharks also won the special teams battle overall, killing two of all three power plays in the first.

San Jose got their first power play opportunity at 8:30 into the second and were able to capitalize. Joe Thornton fished the puck from the boards, tossing it to Logan Couture, who passed the puck down the ice. Patrick Marleau then slapped the puck from the point, as it went off Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, off both posts and into the net.

The second did not end well for the Sharks, as Chicago caught up with shots on goal. Quick, slick passing set up Chris Tierney as the final link, but he was unable to seal the deal. Then with 21.2 seconds left, Tierney was called for tripping.  

San Jose killed off the last penalty to start the third.

The Sharks scored on their first attempt at the empty net at 18:18. Joe Thornon scored his third goal in as many games. The Sharks have now scored at least two goals in 14 straight games.  

The Blackhawks outshot San Jose 11-6 in the final stanza.

Game notes: Overall, the Sarks outhit Chicago 26-13 and San Jose lost faceoffs 22-34. Game leaders were the Blackhawks’ Marian Hossa with five shots, Wingels with six hits, San Jose’s Brent Burns with four blocks and the Sharks’ Marc-Edouard Vlasic with 30 minutes of ice time Chicago’s Artemi Panarin was a late scratch. San Jose’s Brenden Dillon did not come out for the second period. He suffered an upper body injury. With an even road trip trending up in the rear view mirror, the Sharks return home to host the Chicago Flames Thursday at 7:30pm.

Sharks rebound against Blues

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Photo credit: Jeff Roberson AP Photo

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~San Jose got past St. Louis goalie Brian Elliott in a 3-1 win, as they moved back up in the Western Conference Thursday.

Elliott gave up three goals for the first time since January 16 as the Blues’ offense struggled again.

Joe Pavelski was the primary assist on the first two goals

Both teams were scoreless on the power play again, the Sharks 0-for-4 and St. Louis 0-for-2.

San Jose had an early turnover in the first, like in the game versus the Ducks. Vladimir Tarasenko then had a close chance, but goalie Martin Jones reacted with a nice save. Right after, Justin Braun was called for slashing at 1:06 as the Blues went on the penalty kill.

Alexander Steen led all with four shots.

Like last game, in the second, the shots dropped but the goals went up.

The Sharks started with another first shift turnover that led to a 2-on-1.

San Jose scored first at 3:55. Joonas Donskoi took a pass from Pavelski as Donskoi raced to the net. The puck hit the post before it went past Elliott, as Donskoi got his seventh point in eight games.

More penalties overlapped in the second. St. Louis’ Jori Lehtera was called for hooking at 5:09. Donskoi went in the air after a collision with Hertl. Teammate Brent Burns was then called for tripping at 6:33. 16 seconds later, Tarasenko was called for tripping too.

At 7:15, after losing his 10-game point streak versus Anaheim, Joe Thornton was back at it. Marc-Edouard Vlasic near the point, passed it to Pavelski in the faceoff circle, who passed it to Thornton in the other, as he went five hole. With the game winning goal, Thornton vaulted out of a three way team tie to second on the team.

A lot more puck possession in front of Martin Jones bore fruit for St. Louis, as Paul Stastny passed to Alex Pietrangelo, who passed cross ice to Jay Bouwmeester. It was Bouwmeester’s second goal, but initially it was credited to Tarasenko up front.  

In the third, the Sharks stayed hungry. While Joel Ward tied up a defender, Matt Nieto scored solo five hole at 16:44 to make it 3-1.

Game notes: San Jose remained perfect in regulation after leading after two (19-0-2). Both Stastny and Thornton, hot versus the other team, got another point. It was the second collision between Sharks’ teammates in as many games. San Jose plays game three of their four game road trip Saturday against the Nashville Predators at 4:30pm.

Sharks can’t break through  

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Photo credit: Alex Gallardo AP Photo 

~By Pearl Allison Lo

ANAHEIM– With both teams hot and mostly fresh from the All-Star break, the Ducks won first as they contained San Jose, 3-2.

Anaheim pulled into a tie for third place with the Arizona Coyotes in the Pacific with the win. It was the Ducks’ fourth straight win and their third straight versus the Sharks. San Jose had been perfect in regulation in their past 10 games. It was Anaheim goalie Frederik Andersen’s second straight game with at least 30 saves.

It was the highest scoring game of the season between both teams as the Sharks trailed the whole game. San Jose outshot the Ducks 32-25 and Anaheim outblocked the Sharks 23-13. San Jose’s Brent Burns had six of his attempts blocked and led all with five shots.

A shorthanded goal by the Ducks Hampus Lindholm was probably the worst result from special teams. Lindholm replied, “They were pushing us a little bit [at the time], but we were confident on the penalty kill. We got a break and Getzy [Ryan Getzlaf] made a heck of a pass to me. That was a big goal for us.”

In the first period, the Ducks looked like they were dominating and had the closer chances.

San Jose’s Justin Braun had a turnover in front of Andersen early.

With a quick release, Anaheim’s Rickard Rakell scored with 3:51 left, aided by Patrick Maroon and Corey Perry.  The Sharks challenged the call for offsides, but the goal stood.San Jose’s Joe Pavelski had three giveaways in the period as the Sharks were outhit 14-6. He ended up with the most giveaways overall with four.

Though the shots went down, the goals amped up in the second period.

2:43 in, San Jose’s Dainius Zubrus tipped in Brent Burns’ shot for his second goal to tie the game. Zubrus went five hole, also helped by Paul Martin.

The Sharks had mixed results when it came to special teams.

17 seconds later after Zubrus’ goal, San Jose got a power play. However, midway in, the Ducks’ Ryan Getzlaf went behind the net and then reversed direction, before he passed the puck up front to Lindholm. Lindholm made another angled shot against Jones, like the first goal, to score shorthanded from inside the circle at 4:19. With the assist, Getzlaf now has 499 and four assists in as many games.

Anaheim then doubled their lead at 12:07. Sharks’ goalie Martin Jones blocked Chris Stewart’s shot and Ryan Garbut got the rebound to score his first goal with the Ducks. Josh Manson also got an assist.

San Jose quickly got the goal back just over a minute later. Joonas Donskoi passed the puck to Tommy Wingels, who shot out from behind the net before scoring. Marc-Edouard Vlasic also aided.

However, 23 seconds later, Vlasic was called for hi-sticking and just over a minute later, the Sharks were down another man. Tommy Wingels, racing hard to the net, was called for goalie interference. Fortunately for San Jose, they were able to kill off the two penalties.

In the third, the Sharks kept shooting themselves in the foot with another 5-on-3. Martin was called for delay of game at 5:10 and during the penalty kill, Matt Nieto was called for hi-sticking. However, San Jose ended up unscathed again.

With 2:07 left, San Jose had one last chance but were unable to capitalize.

By the end of the second, they were outhit 22-14, but outhit Anaheim 9-3 in the final stanza.

Game notes: The Ducks’ Cam Fowler played 20:16, had two giveaways, one takeaway and blocked two shots in his return. There were at least four broken or lost sticks during the game. The Sharks play the St. Louis Blues Thursday at 5pm in their second of a four game road trip.

Larkin gets three, Scott gets two plus more and Pacific wins $1 mil

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Photo credit: Christopher Hanewinckel, USA TODAY Sports

~By Pearl Allison Lo

~Starting with changes such as the new 3-on-3 format and three individual games, the 2016 NHL All-Star Game, which was hosted in Nashville for the first time, had a little bit of everything.

With 3-on-3 hockey during overtime being implemented during the 2015-2016 regular season, 3-on-3 was not 100% new for some players. However, another first was 3-on-3 for 20 minutes.

Highlights included the unlikely All Star becoming MVP even more deservedly so, a penalty was involved for the first time since 2009, there was a fight/hit, a coach’s challenge and a shutout. With the Eastern Conference winning the Skills Competition, they got to decide the schedule and played in the first game. Four different goalies had assists, two in each semifinal games. Each semifinal game had a player with three assists.

The first semifinal, Metropolitan versus Atlantic, was a come from behind victory in the sense that the Metropolitan never trailed until the very end. Dylan Larkin, the fastest skater ever in the Skills Competition, had three assists. Aaron Ekblad, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang led with five shots apiece. Letang also had the only block.

In the beginning, there was a lost stick. Letang scored first shortside at 1:01, after a missed shot by the Atlantic on the other end, aided by Malkin. Erik Karlsson tied the game at 3:47, helped by Larkin. Evgeny Kuznetsov made it 2-1 at 4:16, assisted by Justin Faulk as goalie Roberto Luongo dove. Regular season teammate Jaromi Jagr then scored at 9:22, Larkin with his second assist. Each team had 10 shots apiece in the first half.

Malkin started the second half with a 25 second goal on the half’s first shot, beginning with a breakaway and finishing with a spin, aided by Brandon Saad and goalie Cory Schneider. At 2:52, Ekblad received a pass from Ryan O’Reilly, as he scored for the Atlantic behind goalie Braden Holtby. Leo Komarov also helped. P.K. Subban ended up scoring the game winner at 5:22. He had just had a breakaway the last time in front of Holtby. Maybe it was the Amy Grant back rubs. Subban was assisted by Larkin and Ben Bishop. Each team had 12 shots apiece in the second, for a total of 22-22.

After the first two scores, the second semifinal looked like it would be slower than the first game, but it had a few surprises up its sleeves. Corey Perry and Daniel Sedin each had four shots.

James Neal scored just 26 seconds in, aided by Matt Duchene and Shea Weber. 21 seconds later, Pacific captain John Scott scored during his first time playing 3 on-3. He was helped by Brent Burns. An illegal play by goalie Pekka Rinne led to a 4-on-3 power play. Joe Pavelski was there to capitalize at 5:26, assisted by Sedin and Perry. At 8:01, Neal re-tied the game. He was the first to score multiple goals and the only one on Team Central. Right after, on the other end, Johnny Gaudreau scored against Neal’s regular season teammate Rinne. Gaudreau was assisted by Mark Giordano and Taylor Hall. With 33 seconds left in the first half, Patrick Kane re-tied the game with the half’s sixth goal. He was aided by Jamie Benn and Rinne. After the goal, Kane had a friendly tussle with Scott.

In the second half, things sped up even more. John Gibson became the fourth goalie to assist when he helped Sedin at 1:49 and the teams were off to the races. At 3:27, Scott got his second goal for the first two goal lead with another assist by Burns. Then at 4:04, Taylor Hall made it 6-3, aided by Gaudreau. At 4:28, Sedin scored a wide open goal (which would be the game winner), helped by Perry and Drew Doughty to build a Pacific four goal lead. However, right on the other end, Dustin Byfuglien scored the fastest consecutive goal in the game 8 seconds later, with Tyler Seguin and Vladimir Tarasenko for the Central. Seguin then followed, with Byfuglien and Tarasenko to make it 7-5. Perhaps the most crucial save was when Gibson then made a full leg save against another Seguin attempt. The Pacific followed with two more goals. At 7:44, Hall scored with Burns and at 8:45, Doughty scored on an empty net with Pavelski. Roman Josi scored the ninth goal of the second half and the last of the semifinals at 8:53, with Seguin and Neal. The Central had 16 to 5 faceoff wins. The Pacific had 8-2 takeaways.

The final game featured Team Atlantic versus Team Pacific, which ended up a goalie showcase.  Shots were 12-10 in favor of the Pacific first half.

Perry scored at 3:38, from Sedin and Burns for the first goal. There was a possible hook on Subban. Perry then scored again with 2:53 left. Bishop was hit by Hall, however, so the goal went under review. Interference was the call. After Bishop was pulled, it led to the game’s first timeout. Chris Sutter’s pep talk before the final ended up being a winner the second time around. After the win, John Scott was hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates. The Pacific only had four shots the second half. The Atlantic won faceoffs 7-3.

Game notes: Notable absences due to injury consisted of Chicago Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews, who was replaced by Neal and Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin, who and was replaced by John Tavares as the Metropolitan Division captain and in the game by Kuznetsov   .  Jagr was the captain for the Atlantic and NHL points leader Kane was the captain for the Central.  For the San Jose Sharks, former Shark Scott was named MVP, current San Jose teammates Joe Pavelski (his first All-Star game) had a final game-high five shots and Brent Burns (his second) had three assists in the second semifinal game. Saturday, it was announced that next year’s All-Star game will be held at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

 

Categories NHL

Sharks’ Stalock strong against Jets

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Photo credit: (Trevor Hagan/The Canadian Press via AP)

By Pearl Allison Lo

~ San Jose and goalie Alex Stalock held the Winnipeg Jets to one goal in a 4-1 win Tuesday.

The Jets have now lost three straight. Conversely, the Sharks have won three straight.

Stalock’s last appearance was against Winnipeg as well, where he came in to replace Martin Jones and stopped all six shots he faced. This time, Stalock turned aside 21 shots, to earn his first win since November 22.

There was plenty of animosity between the teams. Both the first and second period saw fights and the third included roughing and a game misconduct.

Scoring times were similar in the end periods.

San Jose’s Chris Tierney scored shorthand at 15:18. Winnipeg followed 23 seconds later still on the power play. Nikolaj Ehlers scored, aided by Drew Stafford.

With 47 seconds left in the period, Joe Thornton made it 2-0 off teammate Tomas Hertl’s rebound.

The Sharks got a five minute man advantage in the third when Tyler Myers was called for cross checking. Tommy Wingels had checked Myers into the boards and Myers replied by shoving Wingels in the head at 12:55.

With 5:48 left, most of the Jets thought they had tied the game, Blake Wheeler scoring after tripping Stalock, as Stalock’s stick went flying in the air. However, the goal was taken back and San Jose got a two man advantage.

It was a lackluster power play until Coach Peter DeBoer gave the Sharks a talking to. It resulted in the typical Joe Pavelski power play at 15:59. Logan Couture and Brent Burns helped. With the assist, Burns now has a career high eight game point streak. It is also the longest run by a San Jose defenseman, according to @EliasSports.

After missing a breakaway earlier, the Sharks’ Joel Ward’s empty netter with 54 seconds left, made the game the same score as the teams’ last matchup. That game also featured a shorthand goal and unguarded net.

Game notes: Injury-wise, Wingels and Winnipeg’s Mathieu Perreault returned, but the Jets’ Mark Scheifele remained out. San Jose was outhit again 29-10. The Sharks outblocked Winnipeg 21-10. San Jose now hopes to use momentum from their last home win and perfect road trip. They begin a three game homestand, starting Thursday at 7:30pm with former Coach Todd McLellan’s return to SAP Center for the first time with his Edmonton Oilers. The Sharks’ Raffi Torres will also be eligible to return from his 41-game lockout.

Sharks outlast Flames

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(Photo: Sergei Belski, USA TODAY Sports)

By Pearl Allison Lo

~ In the race to the regulation finish line, San Jose worked their way past a quick Calgary Flames comeback, in a 5-4 win Monday.

The two point lead, in a tight Pacific division battle, seemed destined, as the Sharks leapfrogged over the Flames to fourth place, keeping pace with the third-place Vancouver Canucks.

San Jose had a two goal lead three times in the game.

All of the three goals in the first were pretty evenly spaced apart.

The Sharks started where they left off, outscoring their opponent 9-0 in the last two games before they retaliated.

Joe Thornton got the takeaway and the goal as he exchanged passes with Joe Pavelski in between. He scored far side at 5:07.

San Jose would have had a power play but instead, Joonas Donskoi made it 2-0 when Chris Tierney passed the puck cross ice to Brendon Dillon at the blue line. At 9:27, Donskoi then tipped in Dillon’s shot.

Things intensified before Calgary’s goal. Two of Mikael Backlund’s attempts were saved and the Flames had a 2-on-1 shot blocked. Right after the latter, on the other end, the Flames scored. There was a rebound off Johnny Gaudreau’s shot. Micheal Ferland got the puck and Sean Monahan put it through the net at 13:45, after the Sharks were looking around.

San Jose reasserted their two goal lead, when Logan Couture began the second with his first goal of the season at 1:53.

Things remained in the Sharks’ favor until the second half of a double minor to Mike Brown, after he drew blood with a high stick.

Brent Burns was called for tripping, setting up a Calgary 5-on-3.

Within fifteen seconds, the Flames tied the game with back-to-back goals on back-to-back shots.

Dennis Wideman was aided by Gaudreau and Mark Giordano at 11:12. Giordano now has a five game point streak.

Sam Bennett was helped by Backlund and TJ Brodie.

In the third, San Jose’s Justin Braun got hit twice, the second time in the visor when he was already down, and had to leave the game. Couture said after the game, ““It’s scary anytime you see that much blood coming out that quick.”

The Sharks managed not to lose steam and went back up with a power play goal at 5:12. Burns scored just over 30 seconds in, assisted by Patrick Marleau and Thornton. Burns now has a seven game point streak. Marleau played in his 500th straight game.

Joel Ward then scored the game winner, as his pass turned into a goal. The assist went to Burns. Ward also had the game winner in the first of the season matchup between the teams.

Braun came back into the game.

Dillon was called for a penalty at 15:42 and Calgary pulled goalie Karri Ramo. It paid off, as the Flames pulled to within one. Ferland was aided by Backland and Dougie Hamilton.

Game notes: San Jose ended up outshot 35-18, outhit 22-9 and lost faceoffs by a 44-29 margin. The Sharks’ Tommy Wingels, who had a collision with Donskoi, left and came back during the first and then remained out. He is questionable with an upper body injury, for the 5pm matchup against the Winnipeg Jets Tuesday.

 

Pavelski leads “gutsy” comeback  

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By Pearl Allison Lo

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

LOS ANGELES– San Jose Sharks’ Captain Joe Pavelski scored two power play goals in the third period to complete a 5-3 comeback against the Los Angeles Kings Tuesday.

The Sharks wrapped up the 3-2 road trip with a bow heading into the holidays.

Pavelski had two goals, the game winner in both games at Staples Center this season and both of those goals power plays.

DeBoer stated, “There’s a reason he’s the captain. He was just willing us to win.”

San Jose had five unanswered goals in Los Angeles’s home opener and four in this one.

Both Pavelski and Joe Thornton had three point nights.

The 36 shots faced (21 of them in the first, a season-high for the team for a period) and 33 saved were the second-highest total for Sharks goalie Martin Jones this season.

Outshooting, outhitting and outperforming the San Jose on the faceoff, the Kings took the first period early, but the Sharks managed a goal midway through the period.

Pavelski stated, “…every time they pulled ahead a little bit, we were able to get that goal to keep us in the game…”

It was a similar start to the teams’ season opener with an early goal against Jones.

On Los Angeles’s second shot of the game, Tyler Toffoli, the third player to touch the puck off the faceoff, scored through Justin Braun’s legs, as the puck went to the left side of Jones. Tanner Pearson and Jeff Carter got the assists at 1:40.

Then, less than three minutes later, almost right after another faceoff, this one to Jones’ left, Trevor Lewis deflected Dustin Brown’s shot in shortside on the Kings’ fifth shot of the game. Alec Martinez got the second assist at 4:32.

San Jose made it 2-1 on their fourth shot on goal. After Brendon Dillon’s shot, it went to Pavelski and then to Thornton at 12:12.

Less than a minute later, the Sharks’ Tommy Wingels got a double minor.

The second was the power play period with a pair of goals and a sideshow of glass.

San Jose had two power plays less than four minutes apart.

Then the Sharks committed two holding penalties, one for holding the stick.

During the first of those penalties, at 9:07, Los Angeles’s Brayden McNabb’s hit on Matt Nieto caused a section of glass above the boards to pop out.

The goals came at even strength.

San Jose’s Brent Burns lost the puck, which led to a goal as Tanner Pearson passed cross ice to Toffoli at 17:48.

Burns then redeemed himself less than a minute later, as Thornton found Burns along the boards and he scored through traffic from the blue line.

The Sharks’ Melker Karlsson had five blocked shots in the period.

With 14:47 left in the game, Karlsson had a breakaway chance against goalie Jonathan Quick, but was denied.

The two power play goals by Pavelski came as the Kings committed two penalties 39 seconds apart.

Pavelski tied the game 3-3 at 6:06 four seconds after the first penalty, tipping in Burns’ shot.

The second penalty, a slash on Burns by Milan Lucic, was the most controversial in the game. The uproar got louder when Pavelski converted midway into the man advantage. Thornton got the assist.

Regarding coming back to win and special teams play, Pavelski replied, “We know it’s a sixty-minute game…There’s a lot of parts to the power play that need to be well. Entries are one of them, face-offs, and all that type of stuff. We didn’t have it in the first couple [periods] but we stayed with it.”

Burns made it 5-3 on an empty netter with 1:10 left.

Game notes: San Jose now is five points behind Los Angeles. This was the closest game out of the three the teams have played so far this season. Regarding personnel, the Sharks were without Joel Ward again, Karlsson returned and Vlasic, a game-time decision, played a team-high 26:09. After the Winter Break, San Jose starts a five-game homestand, hosting the Colorado Avalanche Monday at 7:30pm.

Sharks take game from Maple Leafs

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By Pearl Allison Lo

(Photo credit: LUCAS OLENIUK / TORONTO STAR)

~ After squandering a 2-0 lead, San Jose finally came from behind to win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-4 Thursday in overtime.

The Sharks lost the lead 4:50 into the second and were down 4-2, after Michael Grabner scored just 1:59 into the third.

A quick reaction by Marc-Edouard Vlasic though, put San Jose right back into the game, as the Sharks then slowly chipped away at the Maple Leaf’s lead.

It was an all too familiar scene for Toronto, who on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, had a lead going into the second, lost it in the third, made it to overtime, but lost by the identical score of 5-4.

San Jose had a season-high 21 shots in the first period, one game after reaching a season-high 20 shots during Tuesday’s game. Against the Maple Leafs, the Sharks had a game-total 42 shots, 2 shy of their season-high total.

San Jose’s shot domination in the first was 21-9, as the line of Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau were able to cash in on their two power play opportunities.

Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau was called for tripping 1:55 into the game. That led to a power play goal six seconds later. Pavelski had his second goal in as many games, aided by Burns and Marleau.

30 seconds into their second power play at 11:32, Marleau followed Pavelski’s footsteps with his second goal in as many games. Pavelski got the first assist and  Burns the second.

Toronto coach Mike Babcock had no choice but to put in goalie Jonathan Bernier after rookie Garret Sparks then left with a lower body injury.

The Maple Leafs still managed to score a goal in the period at 14:48. Peter Holland scored, helped by Daniel Winnik.

In the second, the Sharks committed two penalties but were able to avoid a goal as a result of them.

Toronto tied the game 2-2 when their goal leader Leo Komarov won the faceoff and got the puck back. He led goalie Martin Jones to the side and was able to slide the puck in between Jones and the post. Nazem Kadri got the puck after the faceoff and Frank Corrado got his first assist.

James van Riemsdyk then gave the Maple Leafs the lead with a short side goal, falling while approaching the goal from behind. He was assisted by Parenteau and Tyler Bozak. It was a hot line with van Riemsdyk’s third goal in as many games. Parenteau and Bozak now have points in four straight games.

With .9 seconds left in the second, Toronto’s Joffrey Lupul had a clear chance, but hit post. After, more time was added to the clock for a shot. The shot went to Lupul, but this time Jones stopped it point blank.

The third period had different excitement.

Grabner’s goal to pad the lead was aided by Holland and Winnik.

Vlasic’s timely reply came just over a minute later, as the Sharks responded for the first time since the opening period. His shot came from the blue line, helped by Justin Braun.

At 5:06, San Jose’s Chris Tierney’s breakaway turned into a penalty shot when he was hooked.

The Maple Leafs had a 2-on-1 after, but Jones was able to avoid the score.

Then at 11:49, Matt Nieto sent the game to overtime with a gritty goal. He fell initially and after getting up, he scored while falling down when he got the puck back. Nieto was assisted by Tierney and Joonas Donskoi.

Burns scored the game winner 2:13 into overtime, aided by Thornton and Pavelski.

Game notes: The Sharks’ Tomas Hertl made his return to the team. San Jose will play a back-to-back for their third game of the road trip. They face the Ottawa Senators Friday at 4pm.

Sharks snap skid

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By Pearl Allison Lo

(Photo by RYAN REMIORZ / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

~ San Jose kicked off their five game road trip with their first win of December, defeating the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1 Tuesday.

The Sharks avoided a shutout like last game, and even more so, ended their six-game losing streak in strong fashion.

Three goals were enough this time, as San Jose achieved all even strength goals halfway through the game with an efficient 12 shots. They ended up with 18 shots.

The Sharks are now 12-0 when leading after two, as Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News mentioned they were 11-0 during the game.

Meanwhile, the scoring woes continued for the Canadians, as they were held to two goals or less for the eighth straight game.

Barclay Goodrow, who was recalled before the game, got into a fight at 16:44 of the first, with former Shark Torrey Mitchell, who returned from injury.

A 2-on-1 with Joel Ward and Patrick Marleau led to San Jose’s first goal at 17:34. Justin Braun had the second assist.

Shots were 10 to 3 in favor of the Canadiens after one.

Initially credited to Braun, Joe Pavelski made it 2-0, 36 seconds into the second period.

Dainius Zubrus continued his success in Montreal and got his first goal with the Sharks by tricking goalie Dustin Tokarski at 9:19. Zubrus was aided by Pavelski and Joe Thornton. That goal spelled the end for Tokarski as he left for goalie Mike Condon.

The Canadiens got their goal late in the second period at 17:24, after Dale Weise’s shot deflected off Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

The third period was similar to the first as Montreal had nine shots while San Jose was held to two shots and the Canadiens had another power play.

Game notes: The Sharks outhit Montreal 38-18 and outblocked them 28-11, Vlasic with five of those blocks. Vlasic also had the most ice time for San Jose with 23:59. San Jose’s Tommy Wingels had a game-high seven hits. The Sharks’ Tomas Hertl did not play due to a lower body injury. San Jose will play the second game of their road trip at 4:30pm Thursday versus the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Sharks fall short in OT

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By Pearl Allison Lo

~ The Edmonton Oilers and former San Jose Coach Todd McLellan won their fifth straight home game for the first time in seven and a half years, beating the Sharks 4-3 Wednesday.

Edmonton is now on a season high four game win streak. They have scored at least two goals in each.

Meanwhile, San Jose’s season-high losing streak continued, now at five games. Without a top-four defenseman, they are now 1-7. When starting the third behind, they are now 1-11.

The Sharks’ Logan Couture was injured midway in the second period and never returned, due to a lower body injury.

Two of the Oilers’ top-20 draft picks, Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins contributed. The Sharks’ Patrick Marleau, Edmonton’s Jordan Eberle and Hall each had a goal and assist and Nugent-Hopkins had two assists.

The Oilers had a 2-on-1 in which they nearly scored in the first period.

Shots were 9-7 in the first in favor of San Jose in a physical first.  Darnell Nurse, Hall and former Oiler Mike Brown each had two shots apiece.

After the second, it was 1-0. Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl scored easily at 6:22, aided by Teddy Purcell and Hall.

Each of the first two periods featured a fight.

This was followed by a five-goal flurry in the third.

The teams traded goals, starting with Justin Braun’s first goal of the year at 3:56. He was helped by Marleau and Joel Ward. Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News noted Braun’s goal snapped a 68-game scoring drought.

Eberle made it 2-1 at 8:21, assisted by Jujhar Khaira and Nugent-Hopkins. Peter DeBoer tried challenging based on goalie interference, but was unsuccessful.

Starting at 11:07, Marleau and Captain Joe Pavelski then scored solo goals one and a half minutes apart to take the lead for the first time. Pavelski came from behind the net and positioned himself perfectly before Joonas Donskoi found him. This time there was a review after by the NHL.  

The Sharks’ lead lasted until 15:23, when Iiro Pakarinen was aided by Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins to send the game to overtime.  

Hall became the hero, scoring the game winner with 1:01 left in OT.

Game notes: Thursday for San Jose will be spent helping 39 underserved families celebrate during the Holiday Assist Party. They then spend one game at home, host to the Minnesota Wild Saturday at 7:30pm.