Blackhawks 6, Sharks 2
Patrick Sharp scored twice for his first goals since Jan. 28 as visiting Chicago extended its point streak to five games.
Brandon Saad and Marian Hossa each had a goal and an assist, defenseman Duncan Keith scored on the power play and Bryan Bickell also tallied for the Blackhawks, who improved to 4-0-1 on their streak. Antoine Vermette recorded two assists for his first points in five games with his new team, blue-liner Brent Seabrook also set up two goals and Corey Crawford finished with 33 saves.
Joe Thornton and rookie Melker Karlsson each scored for San Jose, which lost for the second time in six contests (4-2-0) and fell to 17-16-5 at home. Antti Niemi stopped 24 shots in the loss.
Sharp snapped his 19-game goal drought 6:03 into the contest, chipping in his own rebound after Niemi stopped his backhand deke attempt. He added a power-play goal when his shot deflected off a Sharks player and fluttered past Niemi with 4:50 remaining in the game.
Karlsson banged home a rebound in the slot to tie the game at 1-1 with 3:11 left in the first period but Keith’s blast from the point on a power play restored Chicago’s advantage 8:45 into the second. Thornton responded with a power-play goal for San Jose 3 1/2 minutes later and the deadlock held until Saad and Bickell tallied in the opening 4:56 of the third period.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Hossa added an empty-net goal with 2:16 remaining in the contest. ... Chicago improved to 5-1-1 without injured team-leading scorer Patrick Kane. … The Sharks begin a seven-game road trip at Winnipeg on Tuesday.