Donskoi tallies two goals as Sharks stop Flames
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The Sharks scored four times in the second period, and San Jose rolled to a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday at SAP Center.
Joonas Donskoi scored twice for San Jose, and Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton added two assists apiece. Thornton, the Sharks' top-line center, became the 37th player in league history to appear in 1,400 career games.
Goalie Martin Jones stopped 20 of 21 shots as San Jose (20-12-1) won for the fifth time in six games.
Calgary (17-16-2) denied Jones' shutout bid early in the third period when Flames center Sam Bennett snapped a shot from the slot -- using Sharks defenseman Dylan DeMelo as a screen -- to beat the goalie with his eighth goal of the season at 1:19.
Aside from Patrick Marleau scoring his 490th career goal, the hosts received contributions from skaters who had not dented the score sheet lately during a four-goal second period.
Marleau provided the ice-breaker at 5:35 by backhanding a rebound of Marc-Edouard Vlasic's blocked shot past Calgary goalie Chad Johnson for his ninth goal of the season. Marleau also drew into a tie for 47th place on the all-time goal-scoring list with Norm Ullman.
San Jose defenseman Paul Martin one-timed a bank pass from above the left circle and deflected off the stick of Calgary's Michael Frolik and dribbled past Johnson with Pavelski in front. Martin's second goal of the season came at 9:18.
Donskoi supplied the final two goals of the period, breaking a long drought in the process.
Donskoi dropped to a knee to one-time a Tommy Wingels feed from behind the goal line past Johnson at 14:23. It was Donskoi's first goal in 23 games dating back to Oct. 29.
And as the effects of having played the night before in Arizona continued to catch up with Calgary, Donskoi took advantage less than two minutes later by backhanding a shot in at 16:19 for his fifth of the season.
Calgary's Mikael Backlund made a nice play to strip San Jose center Chris Tierney in close, but the puck squirted right to Donskoi in the slot.
The Sharks emerged with a 11-6 advantage in shots after a scoreless first period.
San Jose had two failed power plays in the opening 12 minutes. While the Sharks were stagnant on their first 5-on-4 and managed only one shot, their second try -- courtesy of a Dougie Hamilton trip of Pavelski -- results on more shots (three) but the same result.
The Flames, who brought a hot power play into the game, didn't manage a shot on a late-period man-advantage chance after San Jose defenseman Brenden Dillon hooked Calgary rookie Matthew Tkachuk.
Calgary had at least one power-play strike in eight straight coming in, and clicked at a 13-for-39 pace with the man advantage in December.
Johnson finished with 30 saves.
NOTES: San Jose veterans, RW Joel Ward and D David Schlemko, were healthy scratches in favor of LW Micheal Haley and D Dylan DeMelo. "We've got a lot of bodies here, a lot of options," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said after the morning skate. "Tough decisions to make." ... Calgary fell to 2-3-2 on the second night of back-to-back games this season. ... Calgary next hosts Vancouver on Friday while San Jose entertains Edmonton on the same night. ... LW Matt Nieto joined Ward and Schlemko as San Jose's healthy scratches. ... C Freddie Hamilton, D Tyler Wotherspoon and RW Garnet Hathaway did not dress for Calgary.