Sharks 5, Senators 2
OTTAWA -- Back to back games clearly don't bother the San Jose Sharks, who completed a perfect weekend by winning their second game in less than 24 hours Sunday.
Making his first NHL start, Sharks goalie Alex Stalock stopped 38 shots as the Sharks defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-2 at Canadian Tire Centre. It was the second game in a row the Senators were beaten by a goalie making his first start, as Anaheim's Frederik Andersen turned the trick Friday.
San Jose blanked the Montreal Canadiens 2-0 Saturday night and now has an NHL-leading 21 points with a 10-1-1 record. The loss was the second in a row for the Senators, who are now 4-5-2.
Tomas Hertl, Andrew Desjardins, Tommy Wingels, James Sheppard and Joe Pavelski scored for the Sharks. Erik Karlssson and Marc Methot had the Ottawa goals.
The Sharks fired 29 shots in the direction of Senators goalie Craig Anderson, marking the first time they've been outshot this season.
The Sharks took a 3-2 lead into the third before Sheppard gave them a cushion with his first of the season on a shot off the post 1:29 after the second intermission. Pavelski increased the count when the puck went into a wide open side off his skate at the 7:59 mark of the third.
Methot had the only goal of the second period when he blasted a slap shot to the top corner over Stalock's catching mitt from the point. It was Methot's first of the season and it came with the Sharks about to get a penalty on a delayed call.
Hertl opened the scoring with his eighth of the season, on San Jose's second shot of the game. Three Senators were to blame. After captain Jason Spezza failed to clear the puck out of the zone, defenseman Joe Corvo had to bounce over his stick before Hertl's shot was deflected by blue liner Jared Cowen.
Desjardins made it 2-0 for the visitors with his first of the season at the 6:35 mark, and again the Senators were guilty of shoddy defensive play.
Karlsson cut into the lead almost five minutes later when he rifled a slap shot from the point that Stalock could not see, as Senators winger Cory Conacher provided the screen.
NOTES: Senators LW Clarke MacArthur missed the game with an undisclosed "minor" injury. MacArthur, the only top-six forward on the team without a goal this season, has five assists in 10 games and, entering the day, had Ottawa's best plus-minus at plus-6. "He's been a very consistent player," said coach Paul MacLean. "I think after we play 82 games we're going to find out he's going to have plenty of goals, points and statistics we're going to like." ... Senators C Jean-Gabriel Pageau took MacArthur's spot in the lineup. Pageau had been a healthy scratch the previous three games. ... Senators D Patrick Wiercioch was in the lineup after missing two games as a healthy scratch. He replaced D Eric Gryba. ... The Sharks have not lost in Ottawa since Dec. 19, 2002. This was only San Jose's fourth visit over that span. ... Sharks D Dan Boyle missed his sixth consecutive game with a concussion. Coach Todd McLellan said the veteran could return Wednesday in Boston. ... Sharks rookie LW Tomas Hertl entered the day in a six-game goal-less slump. Hertl began the season with seven goals in his first five games. "It's virtually impossible to keep the pace that he started with and the energy he's had," McLellan said before the game. "Has he hit the wall or is it just reality? People know who he is now so the matchups are a little bit different. He's playing through that."
