SAN JOSE, Calif. -- They lost the special teams' battle and were outshot badly, but the San Jose Sharks somehow survived to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 on Saturday.

Four different goal-scorers contributed as San Jose snapped a two-game losing streak before heading out for a four-game road trip that starts Tuesday in Toronto.

"Out of the three games we played this was probably the poorest, yet we found a way to win," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "The other two we lost, and maybe we deserved better. That's hockey."

The Hurricanes went 2-for-2 on the power play and scored short-handed to give the Sharks fits. In addition, Carolina piled up a 33-20 advantage in shots to lose for the second time in four games.

"They had momentum right off the bat, 12 seconds in they scored so, we were chasing the game most of the night," Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said.

San Jose was stingy when it had to be. The Sharks didn't allow Carolina a shot for a 15-minute portion of the third period, and they stood strong to deny the Hurricanes a tying goal with their goalie pulled for the final 99 seconds.

"The last minute of 6-on-5 is always a really, really long minute," Sharks goalie Aaron Dell said. "We did a good job, had some big blocked shots out there. We didn't really get too many clears, but we had some good sticks in front of the net. We played it pretty well."

The visitors made it close in the third when Derek Ryan scored a power-play goal at 3:42 to trim San Jose's lead to a single tally. Ryan's fourth goal of the season came 15 seconds after San Jose defenseman Brenden Dillon was caught with a retaliation cross-checking penalty.

"We definitely had our chances, that's hockey right?" Ryan asked rhetorically. "Sometimes it goes in and sometimes it doesn't. We're getting pucks and bodies to the net, that's all you can do, and hopefully it goes in, you try to bear down, but at the same time, sometimes the puck doesn't bounce for you."

San Jose played the third period without defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

"A lot of guys stepped up, we're aware of what's going on," Sharks defenseman Paul Martin said. "We know we're short, the forwards have to help out. Keep shifts short and try to spend as little time as possible in our own zone."

DeBoer said Vlasic was battling a reoccurring lower-body injury and remains day-to-day.

The Sharks put only four shots on goal in the second period, but two found the back of the net as they took a 4-2 lead into the third period.

But first, Carolina struck short-handed just past mid-period to briefly tie the game. Joakim Nordstrom eluded a diving poke-check attempt by trailing Sharks defenseman Brent Burns to beat Dell low at 11:02 for his second goal as Carolina's league-leading penalty-killing unit also held San Jose without a shot on its first power play.

Burns redeemed himself by settling a bouncing puck on the blue line and wristed a drive that Logan Couture redirected with his stuck just below the crossbar at 12:18. Couture's 11th goal of the season was his fifth in seven games.

San Jose scored again less than two minutes later when rookie Kevin Labanc punched home a fat rebound left by Cam Ward at 14:10 for the rookie's fourth goal of the season.

"It was a good shot by (Dylan) DeMelo and I kind of just jammed it home," Labanc said. "You don't see too many opportunities like that so you've got to bury them."

It took the Sharks 12 seconds Saturday to do something they couldn't accomplish against Ward on Nov. 15 -- score a goal.

Patrick Marleau capped a 2-on-1 break by tapping Joe Thornton's cross-ice feed in for his seventh goal of the season. Joe Pavelski's between-the-legs touch pass sprung Thornton after defenseman Justin Braun started the sequence with an outlet pass from deep in the San Jose end.

It didn't take the Hurricanes long to respond as Lee Stempniak scored his fifth goal on the power play at 1:59. Carolina's Teuvo Teravainen slipped behind Braun to create a 2-on-1 and slipped a pass through Vlasic to Stempniak on the opposite post.

San Jose closed out the scoring at 3:14 when Martin's drive that was headed well wide instead struck the skate of Carolina defenseman Brett Pesce and past an off-balance Ward. It marked the veteran defenseman's first goal of the season.

NOTES: The Hurricanes had won eight of the past 11 meetings with the Sharks. ... Carolina continues to play without C Jordan Staal (concussion), C Elias Lindholm (lower body), G Eddie Lack (concussion) and RW Bryan Bickell (illness). ... D David Schlemko missed his third straight game because of a leg injury. D Dylan DeMelo played in Schlemko's place for a third straight outing. ... San Jose begins a four-game road trip on Tuesday in Toronto. ... Carolina hosts Vancouver on Tuesday to open a four-game homestand. ... F Micheal Haley and D Mirco Mueller were San Jose's healthy scratches. D Klas Kahlbeck and D Ryan Murphy did not dress for Carolina.