SAN JOSE – San Jose continued its 17-year domination at home against Montreal Tuesday night by outlasting the Canadiens 5-2 before 17,377 fans at SAP Center.
Logan Couture scored two goals and added two assists for the winners. Martin Jones made 28 saves on the way to his 90th career NHL win.
The win allowed the Sharks to pack to travel east with a 2-3 mark, good for four points in sixth place in the eight-team Pacific Division.
The last time the Canadiens were able to defeat the Sharks in California was Nov. 23, 1999.
The Sharks will need only 75 hours to determine how the road portion of the 2017-8 schedule treats them, playing three games in four days.
San Jose begins the five-game trek to the Eastern time zone with Friday’s match-up with the streaking New Jersey Devils. The New York Islanders look to sweep a two-game series with San Jose Saturday, while the Sharks face the New York Rangers Monday. Dates with Boston on Oct. 26 and Buffalo on Oct. 28 complete the roadtrip.
San Jose posted three goals in the second period, including two while on the power play, to turn a 1-1 deadlock after one intermission into a 4-2 edge.
The teams each netted one goal within a 16-second span to take care of the scoring in the first period.
Couture beat goaltender Carey Price at the 3:50 mark. Couture jetted from the right sideline and went past an off-balance Price at the right post to jam in the puck for his second goal of the season.
Only 16 seconds later the Canadiens drew even, Jonathan Drouin lining a high shot past Jones from the left circle.
San Jose scored at even strength 53 seconds into the second period to take a 2-1 lead. Kevin Labanc’s hard shot from the blueline was deflected by Joe Pavelski before the puck skimmed off Canadien Shea Weber and past Price.
Tomas Hertl scored the first of two San Jose power plays in the second. Joe Thornton fed a pass to Hertl, who slid the puck between his legs and by Price at the left post at 8:03.
The Canadiens sliced the deficit to one when Weber scorched a one-timer from the top of the left circle past Jones at 10:37. Couture made it 4-2 when he found an attempted Montreal clearing pass at the bottom of the left circle and found the net at 13:24 for the power play goal.
Thornton scored an empty-net goal with 42.3 seconds left in the game for his 1394th NHL point.
San Jose comes home Oct. 30 to begin a five-game homestand with a meeting opposite Patrick Marleau and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
