Friday, November 21, 2014
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Bjugstad, Panthers edge Sharks in shootout

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[November 21, 2014]  SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Nick Bjugstad certainly has discovered his scoring touch.

The Florida center scored twice in regulation and in the third round of a shootout, leading the Panthers past the San Jose Sharks 3-2 Thursday night.

Without a goal in the season's first 10 games, Bjugstad now has six in the last seven, and he added the cherry on top with an effort to earn the Panthers an extra point.

"It could go like that in this league," Bjugstad said. "There are good goalies. You can get some bad luck. But you've got to create your own luck ultimately. ... You just can't let it weigh on you."

Sharks left winger Patrick Marleau tied the game with 33.1 seconds left in regulation to ensure his team a point, but it wasn't enough for the win. The road-weary Sharks appeared at home for a league-low sixth time, and they have now dropped four at SAP Center.

"Obviously, it didn't look too good with 30 seconds left, so we'll take the point," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "We would have preferred two, tried to find a way to get that in the shootout but couldn't get it."

Center Logan Couture was the only San Jose shooter to solve Roberto Luongo in the shootout, as the Panthers goalie denied left winger Joe Pavelski and watched as defenseman Brent Burns rang a drive off the post.

Florida outshot San Jose 3-2 during a scoreless overtime when the Sharks had to kill 1:49 of a Panthers power play that carried over from the third period.

Marleau forced overtime when his one-time snap shot off a pass from center Joe Thornton beat Luongo low to the stick side with Sharks goalie Antti Niemi pulled for the extra attacker.

Luongo denied Marleau minutes earlier on a penalty-shot attempt awarded after Florida defenseman Brian Campbell thwarted a breakaway with a slash from behind.

"I felt like we kind of teeter-tottered a little bit in the second period, and then the third period we played pretty well," Bjugstad said.

The Panthers held a 2-1 lead through 40 minutes on the strength of Bjugstad's goals.

With the scored tied at 1 late in the second period, Bjugstad stepped into a slap shot from the top of the left circle to enable the Panthers to convert 1:27 into their second power play of the game.

The Sharks tied the game earlier in the period by converting on their first power play of the game.

Luongo made two right pad saves on San Jose left winger Joe Pavelski, but Couture tapped in the loose puck in the crease at 6:19. The goal was Couture's eighth of the season and snapped his seven-game goalless drought. It also marked San Jose's second power-play goal in 14 tries over six games.

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The Sharks have scored only nine goals in six games.

"We have the ability to create a lot of offense, and tonight we didn't," San Jose center Tommy Wingels said.

"I think we had our chances again," Marleau added. "We have to find a way to get them in the back of the net."

It took Florida only one shot and 24 seconds to jump out on top. Bjugstad had a free stick with San Jose defenseman Justin Braun nearby to direct his first of the night past Niemi, a shot the changed directions from the right faceoff circle.

"We get scored on on the first shot of the game coming home from that long road trip, and we could have responded differently," McLellan said. "At least we responded positively."

NOTES: Coach Todd McLellan juggled personnel on San Jose's top two lines in an effort to get more production from struggling LW Patrick Marleau and C Logan Couture. Marleau, without an even-strength goal in 16 games, was moved alongside C Joe Thornton and RW Tomas Hertl, while Couture was joined by LW Joe Pavelski and RW Matt Nieto. ... Florida RW Aleksander Barkov (illness) and D Dmitry Kulikov (knee) returned to the lineup. LW Scottie Upshall and LW Sean Bergenheim are day-to-day with a lower-body injuries. C Colby Robeck was the Panthers' lone healthy scratch. ... LW John Scott, RW Adam Burish and D Matt Irwin were healthy scratches for San Jose. ... Florida won for the fourth consecutive visit to San Jose dating back to 2009-10. The Panthers also came out on top for the seventh time in the past eight meetings with the Sharks overall. ... F Brandon Pirri (concussion) continues to skate with the Panthers. He might return when the team next plays at home.

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