Category: San Jose Sharks

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Oilers pile on for 3-goal 1st period as Sharks’ win streak snaps at 6

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Photo credit: mynhltraderumors.com

On the Sharks podcast with Len:

#1 Len, the Sharks just completely melted down early in this game and never had any gumption to get back into it.

#2 Talk about the Oilers’ offense, they attacked in the first period with the first three goals. Sounds like they had a game plan and maybe the advantage was they just saw the Sharks last Tuesday.

#3 The Oilers got some scoring help from Connor McDavid, Markus Granlund, Jujhar Khaira, Zack Kassian, James Neal, for the 5-2 win at SAP Center.

#4 Oilers goaltender Mikko Koskinen allowed two Sharks goals, but otherwise stopped and saved enough shots to keep the Sharks out of it..

#5 The Sharks play in Las Vegas next at the T-Mobile Arena against the Vegas Golden Knights, a team that always gives the Sharks fits.

Len does the Sharks podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks’ Six-Game Win Streak Snapped, Oilers Top San Jose 5-2

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Matthew Harrington

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks six-game win streak was snapped Tuesday night, and done so in emphatic fashion by the Pacific Division leaders. The Edmonton Oilers came in to the SAP Center and outclassed the Sharks in almost every aspect of the game, rolling to a 5-2 victory and gaining a bit of revenge for a defeat against the Sharks in San Jose last Tuesday.

Mikael Granlund scored his first goal as an Oiler, Connor McDavid scored and racked up two assists and Leon Draisaitl added to his league-leading 44 points with an apple Kevin Labanc and Barclay Goodrow scored for the Sharks, who failed to move into a winning record for the first time all season.

Granlund put the Sharks on their heels early when he scored on a wrister just 3:34 into the first period, and just under eight minutes in Kassian picked up his eighth goal of a year where he has the greatest job in hockey on a line with McDavid and Draisaitl. McDavid Assisted on the play.

Kevin Labanc continued his strong stretch of play, picking up his fourth point over the last two games. He beat Oilers goalie Mikko Koskinen 1:24 after Kassian’s marker to pull the Sharks within one. Logan Couture and Evander Kane assisted on the goal.

The Sharks peppered Koskinen in the first, putting 18 pucks on the keeper, but couldn’t crack the Oilers 1B option in net. Add in a Jujhar Khaira goal with 15 seconds left in the period and the Sharks hole to climb out of seemed pretty deep.

They largely weathered the storm of the 2nd until a Oilers powper play with just under three minutes left in the middle stanza. James Neal continued his resurgence, tipping a puck through Martin Jones for a 4-1 Oilers lead with McDavid picking up his 28th assist of the year. McDavid would add his 15th goal of the year 6:34 into the third.

Barclay Goodrow continued his strong season, scoring his 6th goal of the year with 10:17 left in regulation. He’s now one goal away from matching a career-high in seven, a feat he accomplished twice in his career including doing it in 47 games in 2017-18. He’s currently played in 22. While he didn’t make the save here, Koskinen did end the night with 33 denials. Though Martin Jones’ save percentage (.828) and goal total don’t look good for this one, he was hardly at fault for the Oilers offensive outburst.

The Sharks three-game home stand comes to an end, and the real test on if the team has turned a corner awaits. San Jose heads to Vegas to face the Golden Knights Thursday in the Fortress, with Vegas and San Jose jockeying for sixth place in the Pacific.

Sharks Streak at Six, Beat Red Wings 4-3 in Shoot-Out

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Sharks won their sixth in a row, defeating the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in a shoot-out Saturday. Sharks goals came from Kevin Labanc (one in regulation and the shoot-out winner), Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and Erik Karlsson. Martin Jones made 25 saves for the win. Detroit goals came from Andreas Athanasiou (2) and Taro Hirose. Jimmy Howard made 16 saves for the Red Wings.

After the game, Sharks captain Logan Couture said: “It’s nice to win. It’s a lot more fun playing hockey right now than it was three weeks ago. So we’re having a good time.”

Couture also talked about the way the team has been winning lately, compared to expectations at the start of the season:

It feels like we’ve been scoring enough goals lately to win. It’s weird, I mean we said at the start of the year we weren’t going to win 5-4, 4-3 games but that’s what we’ve been doing. So if we’re finding ways to score goals right now and that’s why we’re winning, I still think we can be tighter defensively, give up less odd-man rushes. But it’s nice winning.

The win brought the team’s record to even at 10-10-1.

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer talked about the significance of that: “It’s been a lot of work to scratch back into this race. We’ve got a lot of work left to do. But it’s nice to win that game. I think we would’ve walked out of here with only one point tonight, you know, we would’ve been disappointed.”

Kevin Labanc gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead in the final minute of the first period. Entering the zone with Logan Couture and Evander Kane 3 on 2, he took the shot from the middle of the slot, but Howard stopped it and fell forward to cover it. He didn’t quite have it and it trickled out to the side, where Labanc found it again and lifted it over the prone goaltender. Assists went to Logan Couture and Radim Simek.

At the end of the first, the shots were 9-8 San Jose and the Red Wings had won 56% of the face-offs.

Just 1:11 into the second period, the Sharks extended their lead with a blast from Marc-Edouard Vlasic at the point. His shot hit Howard on the inside of the arm and went in. Assists went to Logan Couture and Kevin Labanc.

Detroit got one back 13 seconds later when Andreas Athanasiou scored his fourth of the season. After helping to thwart the Sharks in the neutral zone, Athanasiou skated into the o-zone and around the Sharks defense to put a backhand shot under Jones and into the net. Assists went to Robby Fabbri and Joe Hicketts.

An impressive push from Detroit followed that goal, but it was halted by a penalty to Anthony Mantha for goaltender interference at 5:41. While it slowed the Red Wings, the power play did nothing else for the Sharks. They did not register any shots with the man advantage. Detroit had their own shotless power play at 8:21 after Melker Karlsson was called for high-sticking.

Detroit did tie it at 11:34 when Taro Hirose scored his first of the season. Brendan Perlini found Hirose in the slot right in front of Jones while the Sharks defense seemed not to see him at all. Hirose had room and time to pick his shot but he did so quickly. Assists went to Perlini and Madison Bowey.

The Sharks retook the lead just under a minute later. After shots from Couture and Labanc in the face-off circles could not get by Howard, Labanc skated down the slot and made a backward pass to Karlsson. Karlsson sent the puck right back to the net and in. A mass of bodies screened Howard from seeing what was coming in time. Assists went to Labanc and Couture.

Detroit had another power play at 16:27 when the Sharks were penalized for too many men on the ice. The Red Wings got two shots, but no more in those two minutes.

Athanasiou forced overtime by scoring his second of the game at 15:46 of the third period. Valteri Filppula and Athanasiou broke fast through the neutral zone and went in two-on-one against Radim Simek. Filppula made a cross-ice pass and Athanasiou took the shot. Assists went to Valtteri Filppula and Robby Fabbri.

After a fast-moving overtime, including a penalty kill for the Sharks, Kevin Labanc was the only shooter to score in the shoot-out. Martin Jones stopped Frans Nielsen, Andreas Athanasiou and Dylan Larkin. Jimmy Howard stopped Logan Couture.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers at 7:30 PM PT in San Jose. If that sounds familiar, it is because the Sharks played the Oilers last Tuesday as well, also in San Jose.

Sharks Win 5th in a Row, Beat Ducks 5-3

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks won their fifth in a row Saturday, defeating the Anaheim Ducks 5-3 at the Honda Center. Sharks goals came from the usual suspects: Tomas Hertl (2), Evander Kane, Brent Burns and Logan Couture. Martin Jones made 29 saves for the win. Rickard Rakell, Jakob Silfverberg and Max Jones scored for Anaheim, while John Gibson made 30 saves. Tomas Hertl has now scored in five games in a row. Regrettably, he left the game late in the third after a collision.

After the game, Sharks captain Logan Couture talked about Hertl’s contribution to the team: “He’s playing tremendous. You hate to say you get used to it, because he’s playing at such an elite level but the way that he’s been playing these last two years, three years, however long it’s been, he’s been at that level and he’s getting better, so he’s a big piece of this team for sure.”

Asked about the injury, Couture said: “Anything to the knee doesn’t look good but from what I’ve heard, he’s okay.”

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said: “I thought in the third we found another level. You know, our entire team, we talked between the second and the third, that we had an opportunity to win this game if we could get some more guys going.”

To that end, they made some line changes after the second period: “I think we needed some type of spark. I thought Hertl’s line was productive, I thought especially in the second period, I thought some of other lines were kind of vanilla. So we moved some things around, we regrouped between the second and third and I thought we came out with a good push.”

Anaheim struck first, just 1:09 into the first period. Rickard Rakell scored his sixth of the season with his team’s first shot of the game. A failed clear by Radim Simek took a bounce and ended up on Rakell’s stick as he was crossing the blue line. He skated in and took a quick shot from the top of the circle, beating Jones on the far side. An assist went to Jakob Silfverberg.

Tomas Hertl tied the game at 6:44 in a 2-on-1 with Barclay Goodrow. The play started when Marc-Edouard Vlasic broke up a 2-on-1, at the same time getting the puck to Timo Meier, who found Hertl breaking into the neutral zone. The puck wound up crossing the line between Gibson’s skate and Hertl’s stick blade, and the official did not see it. It was not until the next stoppage of play that an official review caught it. Assists went to Goodrow and Timo Meier.

A few moments later, Sharks defenseman Dalton Prout and Nicolas Deslauriers fought after a hit on Brenden Dillon. It was Prout’s first game back after being injured in the Sharks’ first game of the season in Las Vegas.

Tied at the end of the first, the teams were also very close in shots on goal (11-10 Sharks) and face-off wins (9-8 Ducks).

The Sharks got into penalty trouble early in the second period. Kevin Labanc was called for hooking at 4:18, followed by Melker Karlsson being called for a face-off violation as that first penalty ended. The Sharks managed decent short-handed attempts in each of those penalties and got lucky on a couple of plays before killing off almost four minutes short-handed.

The Sharks were back on the penalty kill at 12:30 after a tripping call to Brent Burns. 30 seconds in, Jakob Silfverberg pushed a puck under Martin Jones after a great cross-ice pass by Ryan Getzlaf forced the Sharks penalty kill to switch sides in a hurry. Assists went to Adam Henrique and Rickard Rakell.

The Sharks got a their second power play of the night at 13:56 when Max Jones was called for hooking Barclay Goodrow. They had a couple of good chances at the end of the power play, but could not push the puck through the melee in front of the net. No shots were recorded for the power play.

Tomas Hertl tied it again with a hard wrist shot from the faceoff dot at 18:28. Timo Meier had collected the puck from the below the goal line and found Hertl with a quick pass after a long shift on offense. The second assist went to Brent Burns. It was Hertl’s 10th goal of the season.

At the end of the second, the teams were still close in shots (11-10 Ducks) but now Anaheim had a heftier 9-6 lead in face-off wins.

The Sharks had their third power play of the night at 6:42 of the third. It did not start well, allowing two good short-handed rushes by the Ducks. Momentum shifted when Brent Burns gathered up the puck in the defensive zone. After a giving the power play time to set up, he carried the puck end to end and took his shot from the slot. It went off of a defenseman and past Gibson to give the Sharks their first lead of the game. Assists went to Evander Kane and Erik Karlsson.

Soon after, Dalton Prout was called for hooking. In the second minute of the power play, the Sharks had their own short-handed chance. Logan Couture carried the puck into the zone with Evander Kane on the other side of the ice. Couture waited until Kane was in shooting position to make the pass and caught Kane with a pass just above the blue paint. It was Kane’s 12th goal of the season and Couture’s 15th assist.

Anaheim answered with a goal at 15:50. Max Jones took a harmless-looking shot off the rush but it deflected off of Radim Simek’s body, bounced under Martin Jones and into the net. Assists went to Carter Rowney and Sam Steel.

The Ducks pulled their goaltender with just under two minutes left. Nick Ritchie, the sixth Anaheim skater, had a great chance just after taking the ice, but it went off of the post. In the final minute, Gibson was back in the net for a face-off in the Sharks’ zone.  Just as he was preparing to leave again, Logan Couture stole the puck skated out on a breakaway. With a couple of quick moves, Couture got Gibson moving and then shot the puck underneath him.

At then end of the game, the teams were still very close in shots (35-32 Sharks) and face-off wins (51% Ducks).

The Sharks next play on Saturday in San Jose against the Detroit Red Wings at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks extend win streak to 5, beat Ducks 5-3

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photo by sfgate.com: The San Jose Sharks Dalton Prout belts the Anaheim Ducks Nicolas Deslauriers in a first period brawl in Anaheim on Thursday night.

By Pearl Allison Lo

ANAHEIM — The San Jose Sharks won their first game versus the Anaheim Ducks this season 5-3 Thursday, as Anaheim played their 1000th home game capping a six-game homestand. 

It was the first win out of four if you count the preseason. Both teams came in with four-game streaks in opposite directions, the longest of each at the time in the NHL. 

The Sharks’ Tomas Hertl had a pair of goals, making it six in his last five. However, Hertl went into the locker room after he turned and Anaheim’s Sam Steel ran into him before the midpoint of the final frame leading to speculation on his true status. 

It was the fifth straight win for Martin Jones in net as well, and he relayed, “Our mindset’s been ‘defend first’, and that’s when we score more goals.”

With the exception of the Nashville Predators game, the Sharks have had at least four goals in each game during their points streak.

San Jose scored in all situations, even-strength, short-handed and on the power play.  

The Ducks got things going early with a failed clearing attempt by Radim Simek as he inadvertently then ended up blocking Jones’ view. Rickard Rakell chose the far side of the net from the right faceoff circle for the 1-0 advantage at 1:09.

The Sharks got a call in their favor when after review, Hertl was credited with a goal at 6:44. Barclay Goodrow took the initial shot which Hertl picked up. Goalie John Gibson saved Hertl’s attempt with his right leg blocker, but Hertl was able to push the puck enough against it until the puck crossed the goal line. 

Timo Meier broke his career high streak with assists in now five straight.

At 7:33, Anaheim’s Nicolas Deslauriers and Dalton Prout engaged in a fist battle. Prout had just returned from a conditioning assignment with San Jose’s affiliate, the Barracuda.  

There was 26 minutes and 16 seconds of a stalemate until both exchanged goals in the second as well, five minutes and 28 seconds apart.

The Sharks had three straight penalties in the second and the last cost them as Jakob Silfverberg scored 21 seconds after it. Rakell shot from beyond the right faceoff circle with Adam Henrique jabbing at it and Silfverberg finding the ultimate success 13 minutes into the middle frame. Before the goal, the league’s lead penalty kill had shut down 14 straight tries from teams. It was also a rare special teams goal for the Ducks. 

Hertl continued with his hot hand to re-tie the game as the right faceoff circle saw more action. The puck glanced off Gibson as it landed in a similar fashion to Rakell’s goal.

In the third, special teams worked in the more dominant team’s favor as both teams got penalties but the Sharks racked up two more goals off those.

San Jose head coach Peter DeBoer echoed, “I thought in the third we found another level, our entire team.”

Ryan Getzlaf and Rakell had short-handed attempts shots stymied by Jones before Burns gave the Sharks their first lead at 8:05 with fancy stickwork down the slot.

Anaheim had three missed shots on the power play preceding Couture’s feed to Evander Kane one minute and five seconds later. Kane had sped up the ice before he tallied as Gibson stretched in the other direction. 

The Ducks pulled to within one in a Jones versus Jones battle at 15:50. Max Jones’ puck went off Simek and through Jones’ five-hole.

The Sharks’ captain Logan Couture clinched the game when he won a breakaway attempt at 19:21 when Gibson just got back into the net.  

Up Next: San Jose will head back home for two games, starting with the Detroit Red Wings Saturday at 7:30 pm.  

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Sharks better prepared, playing sharper game as things fall into place

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photo from sfgate.com: San Jose Sharks’ Evander Kane (9) shoots against Edmonton Oilers’ Mike Smith during the third period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019, in San Jose, Calif

On the Sharks podcast with Len:

#1 The San Jose Sharks are in a four-game win streak. They have defeated Minnesota, Nashville, Edmonton, and Winnipeg after their dreadful road trip. What has been the difference?

#2 In game with the Predators, it was a 2-1 shootout. It seems like the Sharks are more focused in finding the back end of the net in shootout situations.

#3 One player who has been quite focused in the shootouts is the Sharks’ Timo Meier. Meier scored the game-winning goal in the shootout against the Predators for the 2-1 win and Meier did it in the seventh round.

#4 Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer has really put together a game plan — now with four straight wins and a big win over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night, everything is falling into place.

#5 The Sharks host the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers two times this month. Talk about seeing a team twice in the same month. There could very well be advantages to that.

San Jose Sharks podcasts with Len Shapiro are heard each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Pass Another Test, Win 4th Straight Over Division Leading Oilers 6-3

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mercurynews.com photo: San Jose Sharks’ Barclay Goodrow (23) fights against Edmonton Oilers’ Brandon Manning (26) in the second period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019

By Jerry Feitelberg

If you’re looking for a definitive statement that the San Jose Sharks have officially hit their stride after an abysmal start, Tuesday night was perfect proof. The Sharks manhandled the Pacific Division leading Edmonton Oilers 6-3. 13 different Sharks had a point, with  goals coming from six different players. Martin Jones made 21 saves, but was beaten by Western Conference scoring leader Leon Draisaitl, linemate Zack Kassian and Sam Gagner. Connor McDavid was held to just one assist. Barclay Goodrow had a Gordie Howe hat trick for San Jose. 

The Sharks started the year 4-10-1 through 15 games, but have won four-straight. Each win in the Streak has been an improvement on the last,with the Sharks beating a Blackhawks team that had an equally difficult start, then barely hung on to win 6-5 against a bad Minnesota Wild squad. The shootout win against Nashville Saturday was impressive, with the Preds firmly in playoff position but the win Tuesday solidified the Sharks as being able to beat good teams handedly, a calling card of past successful iterations of the team teal.

Brent Burns opened the scoring after his shot rang around the inside of the crossbar 4:01 into play, then Evander Kane tapped a rebound home from a Logan Couture shot for his team-leading 11th goal 7:27 in.

Patrick Marleau buzzed by goalie Mike Smith, tipping a Tim Heed shot past the goalie for a 3-0 lead and his first goal of the season not against the Chicago Blackhawks (fourth overall) at the 11:12 mark.

Barclay Goodrow got the toughest leg of the Gordie Howe, scoring his fifth goal of the year 1:26 into the second period. Draisaitl broke up the shutout just under halfway through the game, but the real excitement came later in the middle period.

With a little over five minutes left in the second,Tomas Hertl collided with Oilers wunderkind Connor McDavid, causing the wires to cross in linemate Zack Kassian. Kassian went after Hertl, a scrum ensued and in the aftermath Goodrow wound up dropping the mitts with Matt Benning. Benning also received a game misconduct for not having his fight strap tethered down and Hertl and Kassian got a penalty each.

When Hertl exited the box, he struck gold though. Erik Karlsson found him rushing to the Oilers net front and fired a perfect pass diagonally to Hertl at the goal mouth. While Hertl didn’t get all of the puck, he did get enough of it to slip it through Smith for a 5-1 Sharks lead 17:34 into the period.

Kassian and Sam Gagner scored goals in garbage time in the third, but sandwiched in between Timo Meier scored his fifth goal of the year. Goodrow picked up the secondary assist, netting him his Gordie Howe. 

San Jose hits the road to face the Anaheim Ducks. After that, they’ll return to face the Detroit Red Wings Saturday night at home.

Sharks Beat Predators 2-1 in Shoot-out

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks defeated the Nashville Predators 2-1 in a shootout at SAP Center Saturday. Timo Meier scored to win in the seventh round of the shootout, and Tomas Hertl scored during regulation for the Sharks. Filip Forsberg scored for Nashville. Martin Jones made 24 saves for the win, and Juuse Saros made 31 saves for the Predators.

After the game, Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson said: “This is a good start. I think this was the first game where we felt right from the start no matter what the score was we felt like we were playing our game and we weren’t too worried about what they were doing. We were focused on the things that we needed to do well and I think we did that.”

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said: “I think 60 minute effort for sure. You know, I thought we handled the adversity of not scoring first even though we were playing well better than we have in the past. Stuck with it, and yeah I think it was our best 60-minute effort.”

Coming into Saturday’s game, Nashville had won 2 of their last 5, with their last game being a 9-4 loss in Colorado. The Sharks had also won 2 of their last five, and had just come off a high-scoring game that they prevailed in 6-5. Tightening defense was clearly a goal for both teams, so it should be no surprise that the game was scoreless through the first period and much of the second. In shots, the teams stayed within three or four, each leading for one period they each had two power plays and no power play goals. The Sharks had the lead in blocked shots and the Predators were doing better in the face-off circle.

Filip Forsberg broke the deadlock at 14:44 of the second. He scored his eighth goal of the season carrying the puck in from the blue line while fending off Erik Karlsson on his right. Despite Karlsson getting a stick in his way, Forsberg put the puck up and over Jones on the short side. Dante Fabbro got the assist for his pass from the Predators’ blue line.

With a little over a minute left in the second period, Dante Fabbro took an Evander Kane shot in the face and had to leave the game. He returned during the third period wearing a face cage.

Tomas Hertl tied it at 5:22 of the third period. He had a shot knocked off his stick during the zone entry but the Sharks retained control of the puck and eventually Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s point shot got to the net and Hertl was there to knock it in. Assists went to Vlasic and Erik Karlsson.

The score remained unchanged through the rest of the period and overtime, including an overtime power play for Nashville.

Before Timo Meier scored to win the shootout for the Sharks, Saros stopped shots from Kevin Labanc, Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, Erik Karlsson, Evander Kane and Brent Burns.

Martin Jones stopped Matt Duchene, Ryan Ellis, Filip Forsberg, Kyle Turris, Ryan Johansen, Nick Bonino and Rocco Grimaldi.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers in San Jose at 7:30 PM PT.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Wild night as Sharks just capture their first multi game win this season

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Photo credit sfgate.com: A fight breaks out between the San Jose Sharks and the Minnesota Wild during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, in San Jose, Calif.

On the Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The Sharks just hung on Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild to get their second straight win in a row, their first multi win this season.

#2 After two periods of play, the Sharks had a 6-2 lead, but almost let it slip away with three goals in the third period. While they won the game, did they lose focus in the third period to have the Wild cut the lead to one goal?

#3 Talk about the toe save by Sharks goalie Marty Jones on the Wild’s Zach Parise that would have put the game into overtime.

#4 Jones threw a shutout in the first two periods until that third and ended up saving 21 out 26.

#5 The Sharks host the Nashville Predators this Saturday. With the Sharks winning their last two games at home, how much of a difference has it been for San Jose since returning home from that long road trip?

Mary Lisa does the Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Hang On In Wild 6-5 Win Over Minnesota

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Matthew Harrington

First, the positives for the San Jose Sharks after Thursday night’s game at home against the Minnesota Wild: With a 6-5 win, San Jose now has its second multi-game win streak of the season. The negative; it wasn’t all that convincing.

After two periods of play, the Sharks held a commanding lead, but if not for a miraculous toe-save by Martin Jones on Zach Paries the game would have gone to overtime. Lowly Minnesota scored three unanswered goals to make Sharks fans sweat the third period out. Martin Jones made 21 saves on 26 shots and Logan Couture appears to be shaking off an early season funk with just his second goal of the campaign and a confidence building four-point night. Tomas Hertl had three points and Radim Simek picked up his first goal since returning to the Sharks in their previous game.

Eric Staal had a goal and an assist for the Wild and Luke Kunin had two points. Former Shark Alex Stalock made just eight saves on 12 Sharks goals before being pulled after a four-goal first period.

Couture, in the longest scoring slump of his career, opened the scoring 52 seconds into the game, then Timo Meier made the Sharks lead 2-0 just under six minutes in. Marcus Sorensen notched his third goal of the year and Radim Simek scored on a slap shot, all in the final five minutes of the period to run the score up  4-0 after 20 minutes.

Kunin  would score late in the second at the 15:51 mark, but Tomas Hertl’s sixth goal of the season would seemingly give San Jose breathing room on the power play. The second closed out with a flurry though as Staal and Evander Kane traded power play goals in the final 2+ minutes for the 6-2 Sharks edge.

Brad Hunt’s wrist shot 8:07 into the third cut the Sharks lead in half, then 1:13 later Ryan Donato’s 1st goal of the year made it 6-4. Jason Zucker’s 5th goal of the season with 4:35 left in regulation cut the lead to just one, and a turnover that led to a Zach Parise one-on-zero seemed like it’d tie the game.

A down but not out Jones made the save and his defenders cleared the puck and a mad dash with the extra attacker for Minnesota proved for naught as the Sharks held on for the win. They’ll look to match a season-high win streak of three games when they take the ice Saturday at home against the Nashville Predators.