SAN JOSE
– A five-game losing streak ended Thursday night as San Jose
hustled to a 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on the winners’
ice.
SAN JOSE – A five-game losing streak ended Thursday night as San Jose hustled to a 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on the winners’ ice.
The Ducks brought a 3-0-3 mark in their last six games into the contest, including a 3-2 win over Vancouver Wednesday night in the Canucks’ building.
The Sharks, tied for first place in the Los Angeles Kings with 47 points, have a 3-0 record this season against the Ducks. Anaheim returns to HP Pavilion the day after Christmas as the Sharks begin a three-game homestand.
San Jose starts a quick two-game roadtrip Monday night against Dallas, then faces the Chicago Blackhawks Tuesday.
Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau scored goals in the second period as the hosts carried a 2-0 advantage into the second intermission.
San Jose fashioned a 17-9 edge in shots on the net in the scoreless first period. Torrey Mitchell was awarded a penalty shot 13:40 into play when he was hooked on a breakaway by Duck Ryan Whitney. Anaheim goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped Mitchell’s snapshot from 10 feet out to preserve the tie.
San Jose turned an 11-6 edge in shots for the second period into a 2-0 cushion.
Devin Setoguchi pounced on a Duck turnover behind Anaheim’s net 9:10 into the period. Setoguchi slid the puck to Marleau at the top of the left circle. As Thornton skated across the front of the crease, Marleau’s low shot ricocheted off Thornton and under Giguere’s pads at 9:15.
Marleau was the Shark at the edge of the crease when the score moved to 2-0 with 15:25 gone in the period.
Douglas Murray lofted a shot from the just inside the blueline that Marleau was able to tip with his stick blade, the deflection sending the puck past Giguere.
The Ducks regrouped in the third period to take advantage of a Dany Heatley high-sticking penalty and tally a power-play goal 34 seconds into action.
Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim’s leading scorer with 38 points, scored the goal from a tough angle 15 feet away from the right Shark post. Getzlaf deked once before sliding the puck under the arm of goalie Evgeni Nabokov.
San Jose returned the favor with a power-play goal at 13:23 to regain the two-goal advantage.
Thirty-six seconds after Duck Saku Koivu was whistled for tripping Heatley, Joe Pavelski skated between two defenders to put a shot on net. The short rebound was rammed home by Thornton, his second goal of the night.
Thornton reached 48 points, tops in the NHL, when he assisted on Setoguchi’s goal at 16:11 to cap the scoring.
