Sharks find a way to defeat Hurricanes
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- They lost the special teams' battle and were outshot badly, but the San Jose Sharks somehow survived to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 on Saturday.
Four different goal-scorers contributed as San Jose snapped a two-game losing streak before heading out for a four-game road trip that starts Tuesday in Toronto.
The Hurricanes went 2-for-2 on the power play and scored short-handed to give the Sharks fits. In addition, Carolina piled up a 33-20 advantage in shots to lose for the second time in four games.
The visitors made it close in the third when Derek Ryan scored a power-play goal at 3:42 to trim San Jose's lead to a single tally. Ryan's fourth goal of the season came 15 seconds after San Jose defenseman Brenden Dillon was caught with a retaliation cross-checking penalty.
San Jose played the third period without defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and top-line left wing Patrick Marleau was missing for most of the period as well.
The Sharks put only four shots on goal in the second period, but two found the back of the net as they took a 4-2 lead into the third period.
But first, Carolina struck short-handed just past mid-period to briefly tie the game. Joakim Nordstrom eluded a diving poke-check attempt by trailing Sharks defenseman Brent Burns to beat San Jose goalie Aaron Dell low at 11:02 for his second goal as Carolina's league-leading penalty killing unit also held San Jose without a shot on its first power play.
Burns redeemed himself by settling a bouncing puck on the blue line and wristed a drive that Logan Couture redirected with his stuck just below the crossbar at 12:18. Couture's 11th goal of the season was his fifth in seven games.
San Jose scored again less than two minutes later when rookie Kevin Labanc punched home a fat rebound left by Cam Ward at 14:10 for the rookie's fourth goal of the season.
It took the Sharks 12 seconds Saturday to do something they couldn't accomplish against Ward on Nov. 15 -- score a goal.
Marleau capped a 2-on-1 break by tapping Joe Thornton's cross-ice feed in for his seventh goal of the season. Joe Pavelski's between-the-legs touch pass sprung Thornton after defenseman Justin Braun started the sequence with an outlet pass from deep in the San Jose end.
It didn't take the Hurricanes long to respond as Lee Stempniak scored his fifth goal on the power play at 1:59. Carolina's Teuvo Teravainen slipped behind Braun to create a 2-on-1 and slipped a pass through Marc-Edouard Vlasic to Stempniak on the opposite post.
San Jose closed out the scoring at 3:14 when Paul Martin's drive that was headed well wide instead struck the skate of Carolina defenseman Brett Pesce and past an off-balance Ward. It marked the veteran defenseman's first goal of the season.
Both teams had quality chances the remainder of the period. Ward denied Chris Tierney on a mini-break and got help from ex-Shark Matt Tennyson when the Carolina defenseman caught enough of Melker Karlsson's stick to force a follow shot toward an empty net to sail wide at 8:21.
Hurricanes winger Sebastian Aho had two great chances. First he rang a tap-in chance off the near post at 17:10 and then was denied in close point-blank by Dell with 20 seconds left.
NOTES: San Jose G Aaron Dell made his fourth straight of the season. Dell brought a 2-1-0 record with a 1.93 goals-against average and .931 save percentage into the game. ... The Hurricanes had won eight of the past 11 meetings with the Sharks. … Carolina continues to play without C Jordan Staal (concussion), C Elias Lindholm (lower body), G Eddie Lack (concussion) and RW Bryan Bickell (illness). ... D David Schlemko missed his third straight game because of a leg injury. D Dylan DeMelo played in Schlemko's place for a third straight outing. ... San Jose begins a four-game road trip on Tuesday in Toronto. ... Carolina hosts Vancouver on Tuesday to open a four-game homestand. ... F Micheal Haley and D Mirco Mueller were San Jose's healthy scratches. D Klas Kahlbeck and D Ryan Murphy did not dress for Carolina.