San Jose Sharks Beat Canucks; Snap 6-Game Losing Streak
SAN JOSE (AP) — Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier scored, Aaron Dell made 33 saves and the San Jose Sharks snapped a season-high six-game losing streak by beating the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 on Saturday night.
Hertl opened the scoring in the first and Meier added his goal in the third on a rush after Dell made a big save.
Evander Kane and Logan Couture added empty-net goals around a score by Bo Horvat with 28.4 seconds to play for Vancouver. It all helped interim coach Bob Boughner win for the first time in San Jose since taking over earlier in the week from the fired Peter DeBoer.
Jake Virtanen also scored for Vancouver and Jacob Markstrom made 23 saves.
The Sharks were protecting a 1-0 lead early in the third when Dell came up with several big saves following defensive breakdowns, robbing J.T. Miller, Tanner Pearson and Brock Boeser early in the period. He made another stop of Boeser to fuel a rush the other way.
Erik Karlsson sent a pass out to Meier, who worked a give-and-go with Kane before beating Markstrom with a one-timer for his 11th goal of the season.
Virtanen answered less than a minute later on a pass from Adam Gaudette but Dell held the Canucks off the rest of the way.
For the second straight game under Boughner, Hertl opened the scoring in the first period for San Jose. The Sharks put together a strong forechecking shift for some extended zone time. Joe Thornton then slid a pass across the crease to Hertl, who was all alone and beat Markstrom for his 12th.
San Jose was unable to build on an early goal by Hertl in Boughner's first game as they went on to lose 6-3 to the New York Rangers on Thursday night.
But they kept the pressure on for most of the rest of the first period against Vancouver, killed a pair of delay of game penalties starting late in the first and carrying over into the second and then got strong play from Dell in the second period to maintain the 1-0 advantage.
Brandon Sutter nearly tied it in the closing seconds of the middle period but his deflection trickled just wide of the post right before the buzzer.
NOTES: Sutter (groin) returned to the lineup for the first time since Dec. 12. ... Sharks D Marc-Edouard Vlasic played in his 1,000th career game, becoming the 17th defenseman to reach the milestone with one team. ... San Jose D Brent Burns, who led the team with 83 points last season, has no points in his past 11 games.
