Pavelski scores 2 in Sharks' win vs. Sabres
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Joe Pavelski continued his late-season goal surge to lead the San Jose Sharks to a 4-1 over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.
Pavelski scored twice to take the team lead with 28 goals. The San Jose captain has seven goals in five games. And goalie Martin Jones made 22 saves as the Sharks enjoyed quite the disparity of shots on goal -- 41-23 -- which included a season-high 20 for one period in the first.
In lengthening their lead in the Pacific Division to nine points over idle Calgary and Anaheim with a seventh win in nine games, the Sharks also snapped an 11-game winless streak against the pesky Sabres, who had won in their last five visits to SAP Center.
Pavelski scored his second of the game at 5:28 of the third period to give the hosts a two-goal lead. A puck shot by defenseman Dylan DeMelo caromed off a Buffalo defenseman right to Pavelski, who punched home the lucky bounce from the week side.
Logan Couture added insurance with his 24th goal of the season by tipping a puck off the goal stick and over the head of Sabres netminder Robin Lehner at 14:57 of the third.
San Jose continued its assault on the Buffalo goal in the second period, putting another 16 shots on goal for a total of 36 through 40 minutes. And while held off the board in the first period, the Sharks found the back of the net twice in the second.
Pavelski scored the equalizer on San Jose's third power play of the game. He went to a knee in the slot to one-time a Couture feed past Sabres goalie Robin Lehner, who turned away the first 30 shots he faced. Pavelski's 27th goal came at 11:47 and tied him with defenseman Brent Burns for the team lead.
The hosts took a 2-1 lead with 49.8 seconds left, and as fate would have it the goal didn't even come off the stick of a Sharks skater.
Micheal Haley applied a hard forecheck on Buffalo defenseman Cody Franson, who tossed the puck from the end boards to Jack Eichel in front. Eichel flailed at the bouncing puck and tapped it right between the legs of Lehner.
Haley's unassisted goal was his second of the season.
Buffalo escaped the opening period with a 1-0 lead despite getting outshot 20-9, a figure that represented a season high in shots for one period by the hosts.
Eichel reached the 20-goal plateau just 70 seconds after the opening faceoff as a result of a San Jose turnover. Pavelski tossed the puck up the boards, but there was no winger present.
Defenseman and one-time Sharks player Josh Georges punched a drive toward the net that ricocheted off a skate to Matt Moulson, who fed a wide-open Eichel for a 10-foot one-time past a sprawled Jones.
The Sharks thought they had tied the score at 10:47 when rookie forward Marcus Sorensen swooped into deposit a rebound past Lehner, but the Buffalo goalie was interfered with by Burns moments earlier.
San Jose challenged the ruling, but the call on the ice was upheld and the hosts lost a timeout. Burns led the Sharks' shooting brigade with five of his own in the first period.
NOTES: Buffalo brought the league's top power play into the game on the strength of an 8-for-22 stretch over the previous six games. ... San Jose had not allowed a power-play goal in three straight (9-for-9). ... LW Melker Karlsson (lower body) missed his second straight while D David Schlemko (lower body) was missing for the sixth in a row. Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said both are close to returning. ... Buffalo continues its four-game trip in Los Angeles on Thursday. ... San Jose next hosts St. Louis on Thursday. ... RW Hudson Fasching was Buffalo's lone healthy scratch as D Dmitry Kulikov (upper body), RW Kyle Okposo (ribs), LW William Carrier (knee) and C Johan Larsson (wrist) remain out. ... C Ryan Carpenter and D Tim Heed did not dress for San Jose.