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 Center Joe Pavelski scored his 28th and 29th goals of the season
while defenseman Brent Burns and center Joe Thornton contributed
three points each as the Sharks beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-2 at
SAP Center on Monday.
With its second win in as many nights, third-place San Jose moved
within two points of the second-place Anaheim Ducks and within four
of the first-place Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific Division. Both
Southern California teams were idle.
"I love our group," Thornton said. "We have a great group, and it's
exciting going forward here. We've got a real deep team that's fun
to watch."
San Jose's dominant win snapped Montreal's four-game points streak
as the desperate Canadiens ventured out for the first game of a
four-stop West Coast trek.
"I think our defensive squad really had a tough time tonight,"
Montreal coach Michel Therrien said. "We got dominated by a good
hockey team."
San Jose led 3-2 through 40 minutes before breaking the game open
with two strikes early in the third period. It was the manner in
which the Sharks kept coming at Montreal with wave after wave of
chances that kept the Canadiens backed up during the final 20
minutes.
"You saw it tonight -- four lines go, six (defensemen) go -- it's
line after line," Thornton said. "You don't need to match when you
have four lines like this. You just keep the pressure on. You get
your energy back when three shifts go by."
Montreal right winger Brendan Gallagher said, "I don't think we can
be happy enough with our effort. We allowed them to have too much
time and space, and good players are going to take advantage of it.
There's things we can control every game, and our compete level and
battle level wasn't where it needed to be."
Sharks left winger Melker Karlsson scored his eighth goal by
punching a pass out of the air from the slot past Montreal goalie
Mike Condon at 2:14 of the third period. The goal capped a
hard-working shift in the offensive zone by San Jose's fourth line.
It marked Karlsson's first goal in seven games, his second in 14.
Just over one minute later, recently acquired center Nick Spaling
scored his second goal in four games as a Shark by following up on a
rebound left from center Logan Couture's shot.
"It's been a pretty easy transition for me," Spaling said. "They've
done a good job to make sure I'm comfortable. I couldn't ask for too
much more."
Pavelski capped the scoring with a blast in close at 14:50. It was
an impressive finish considering San Jose played the night before in
Vancouver while the Canadiens were idle.
"To be honest, that 4 o'clock start (Sunday) was nice, we got home
at a decent hour so it didn't feel like a back-to-back," Thornton
said.
The teams traded goals in the middle session as the Sharks took a
3-2 lead into the final period.
Burns worked a give-and-go with Thornton through the neutral zone
before the Sharks' All-Star defenseman potted his 21st goal at 3:11
with a rifled wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle.
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The Canadiens narrowed the lead to a single goal again a little more
than nine minutes later when an ex-Shark struck. Right winger Torrey
Mitchell batted the partially fanned shot of teammate Paul Byron out
of the air, and he literally bounced his seven goal of the season
past San Jose goalie Martin Jones at 12:32.
Jones came up big inside the final 30 seconds of the period with a
right-pad save on Gallagher's potential game-tying shot from the
bottom of the right circle. Jones got help from the crossbar in the
opening minute of the second period, too, when defenseman Mark
Barberio's drive on the power play struck iron.
The Sharks took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission after
controlling play during the opening 20 minutes and outshooting the
Canadiens 13-7 in the process.
San Jose broke on top with a pretty goal as Thornton stuffed home a
redirected pass at 3:11 from Pavelski after defenseman Justin Braun
executed a perfect shot-pass from the right point.
Montreal struck back at 5:26, however, when Gallagher fired a low
shot along the goal line from the right boards that somehow slipped
through Jones.
The hosts broke the tie at 15:55 when Thornton threaded a cross-ice
feed to Pavelski, who one-timed his 28th goal of the season past
Condon. Burns picked up the 400th point of his NHL career with a
second assist.
Jones finished with 21 saves, while Condon stopped 30 shots.
NOTES: RW Mike Brown was claimed by Montreal off waivers, switched
locker rooms and was in Monday's lineup for the Canadiens playing
against his recent ex-teammates in San Jose. Brown paired with
ex-Shark LW Torrey Mitchell and C Michael McCarron on Montreal's
fourth line, taking the place of RW Devante Smith-Pelly, who was
dealt Monday to New Jersey in exchange for F Stefan Matteau. ... G
Martin Jones made his ninth straight start for San Jose as new
backup James Reimer was not yet in town following Saturday's trade
with Toronto. Reimer was in the process of working through
immigration issues, and he will likely join the team in time for
Thursday's game in Vancouver. AHL call-up Aaron Dell dressed as
Jones' backup for a second straight night. ... G Carey Price did not
accompany the Canadiens on the road but skated wearing full
equipment in Montreal. ... The Sharks assigned D Dylan DeMelo to San
Jose of the AHL. ... LW Lucas Lessio and D Morgan Ellis were healthy
scratches for Montreal, while D Matt Tennyson did not dress for San
Jose.
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