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 New Jersey's back-up stopped all 30 shots he faced while his Devils
teammates provided three goals of support as the visitors added to
San Jose's home woes with a 3-0 victory at SAP Center.
"Just from the start I felt a little better," said Kinkaid, who
surrendered six goals a loss Sunday to Pittsburgh. "I was tracking
it better, (and) better mentally prepared. Definitely night and
day."
San Jose, meanwhile, dropped to 1-7-1 during a return from road
trips of two more games as the Sharks, who possess the best road
record in the league, dropped to a pedestrian 12-15-3 as hosts.
"Those are always tough games when you return home after a road trip
no matter how long it is," Sharks defenseman Paul Martin said.
"We've been successful on the road, and it takes a lot out of us.
"I imagine winning those games, and finding a way to win, maybe we
take it for granted or expect the same thing is going to happen at
home."
Not only that, but their latest loss on home ice wasted an
opportunity to gain ground on idle Anaheim and Los Angeles -- San
Jose's two Pacific Division rivals ahead of them in the closely
contested standings.
"It doesn't matter who we play, we're trying to look ahead at the
teams are ahead of us in the standings," Sharks forward Dainius
Zubrus said. "Today is a missed opportunity."
Travis Zajac scored twice in the final period and Devante
Smith-Pelly broke a scoreless tie early in the middle session for
the Devils.
"Obviously the last couple of weeks things haven't been going our
way," Devils forward Kyle Palmieri said. "Keith stood on his head,
and the penalty kill did a great job tonight. And we were able to
steals two points."
New Jersey broke through at 3:14 of the second period for the only
goal during the first two periods.
Smith-Pelly drove the left side, pulled up and fired a shot across
his body that beat Sharks goaltender Martin Jones, who appeared to
be screened.
Smith-Pelly's ninth goal of the season went through Sharks
defenseman Roman Polak. Jones may have been screened, too, by the
ex-Devil Zubrus, who was locked up skating through the slot with New
Jersey's Stephen Gionta.
New Jersey's 10th shot, resulting in the goal, was the last it
managed in the period.
Losers of two straight, five of six and eight of 10 coming in, New
Jersey earned some breathing room when Zajac scored an unassisted
goal at 1:37 of the third period. He added an empty-netter late.
Zajac walked out front with a turnover and shot on Jones. The puck
squirted over the San Jose goalie where defenseman Brent Burns
reached behind and swatted the puck along the goal line until it
struck the near post. The puck got on its end and literally twirled
over the line by inches before Jones could locate it.
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Martin and Zubrus got tangled behind the net and combined to turn
the puck over. Zajac's 11th goal snapped a stretch of 18:23 without
a New Jersey shot in the contest.
"It's one of those things where we've got to be more clean in our
own end," Martin said.
The Sharks possess the league's fourth most potent power play, but
it went 0-for-3 against the Devils despite racking up nine shots
during a combined six minutes of 5-on-4 skating.
"The start of the game wasn't great for us, they had more jump,"
Zubrus said. "We regrouped between periods and for the second and
third it was better but like I said we've got to score goals to win
games."
"We got better as it went along, but no excuses we've got to find
ways to win games at home," Martin added.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for New Jersey, which had
also lost five of six and eight of 10. Knowing it will be without
starting goalie Cory Schneider for at least a couple of weeks, the
Devils needed this badly.
"It was nice to see Keith be able to come back and play well,"
Devils coach John Hynes said. "He certainly deserved the shutout. I
thought our team played well in general and defended well, but when
we did have some breakdowns he came up big and certainly deserved to
get the shutout."
NOTES: D Roman Polak played Thursday despite sustaining a broken
nose as a result of getting jumped by Edmonton D Darnell Nurse late
in Tuesday's game. Nurse received a three-game suspension for his
actions. ... New Jersey LW Tyler Kennedy struggled to even get in
the lineup during his two recent seasons in San Jose, but he started
on Thursday on the Devils' top line. ... Back-up G Keith Kinkaid
made his second straight start for New Jersey, who will be without G
Cory Schneider for at least two weeks. Schneider has a sprained MCL,
which will be evaluated in a couple weeks. ... Injured Sharks RW
Tommy Wingels hopes to return next week. Wingels missed his 11th
straight game with an upper-body injury. ... D Dylan DeMelo and D
Matt Tennyson were San Jose's healthy scratches while D Jon Merrill,
LW Tuomo Ruutu, C Jacob Josefson and D Damon Severson did not dress
for New Jersey.
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