Sharks continue road success, defeat Lightning

[February 17, 2016]  TAMPA, Fla. -- The San Jose Sharks continued their strong play on the road, pulling out a 4-2 victory Tuesday to hand the Tampa Bay Lightning their fourth loss in five games.

San Jose (30-20-5) got third-period goals from left winger Matt Nieto and center Melker Karlsson for the difference as it improved to 19-8-2 away from home.

"I liked our composure tonight," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "Even when we got behind, or they tied it up, we really had a good feeling of confidence."

Tampa Bay (30-22-4) is tied with Pittsburgh for the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race, with the Penguins having a game in hand.

"These points are important, and we let them slip through," Tampa Bay goaltender Ben Bishop said. "Luckily other teams are losing as well, so we're not falling too far behind. We'll probably wake up (today) not being in the playoffs. We've got 26 games left and they're all going to be important ... It's gut-check time."

The Lightning got a long-awaited goal to open the scoring, with right winger Ryan Callahan getting his sixth goal of the season with 2:09 left in the opening period. Callahan had scored four goals in the opening 13 games of the season, but one in 41 games before ending an 18-game drought Tuesday.

San Jose jumped ahead on Joe Pavelski's team-best 26th goal of the season, getting a feed from center Joe Thornton from behind the goal for his team-best 37th assist. That goal came less than five minutes after Sharks right winger Joel Ward tied the game 1-1 on his 16th goal with 18:17 left in the second.

"You keep looking up. You want to keep climbing," Pavelski said of San Jose watching the standings down the stretch. "That wasn't a focus so much as let's start this road trip off right."

Lightning center Cedric Paquette tied the game 2-2 with 11:14 left in the second period, getting his first goal in 21 games.

The Sharks jumped ahead 1:17 into the third, with forward Patrick Marleau getting ahead down the right side and feeding Nieto, who beat goalie Ben Bishop for his eighth goal of the season and a 3-2 lead. San Jose put the game away on a goal from Karlsson with 1:43 left.

Tampa Bay has lost only twice this season after leading after the opening period and fell to 22-5 when it scores first.

"We just don't give those up. It was way too easy," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of odd-man rushes leading to key San Jose goals. "We have guys who have been with us for a while out there on the ice. It's our job as coaches to straighten this out. Why they're deferring from what's worked for us is what we need to figure out."

NOTES: The Lightning played without C Vladislav Namestnikov, who was hit hard into the boards in Sunday's 2-1 loss to the Blues. RW Erik Condra was a healthy scratch, with rookie D Slater Koekkoek making his season debut after being a healthy scratch in the previous two games. Koekkoek, a first-round pick in 2012, had four games in his NHL career before Tuesday's game. ... The Sharks played without D Brendon Dillon (upper body) for a third straight game. RW Mike Brown was a healthy scratch, as was D Mirco Mueller, who has been recalled twice in the past week. ... Tampa Bay's penalty-killing unit has been the NHL's best since Jan. 1, and hasn't allowed a power-play goal in three straight entering Tuesday's game. They stopped 35 of the last 37 power plays against them.

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