Timo Meier scored twice to lead the offensive attack, and goalie Martin Jones regrouped after surrendering a bad opening goal as the host San Jose Sharks beat the New Jersey Devils 5-2 Monday night.
Jones finished with 22 saves to give the Sharks a second straight win and their fourth victory in the past five outings.
Drew Stafford put the Devils on the board first at 12:05 of the first period with his first goal of the season. Stafford, playing just his second game in a month and seventh of the season, took a sharp-angled shot that somehow squeezed between Jones and the near post.
San Jose responded the way good teams do. Meier tied the game less than four minutes later when he shot during a one-on-one rush and buried the puck just inside the far post.
Then Joe Pavelski gave the Sharks the lead at 18:03 of the opening frame with his seventh goal in eight games and 20th of the season. Pavelski was on the spot for a rebound that he tucked into the cage.
San Jose's Radim Simek made it a 3-1 game with his first career tally at 7:19 of the second period, unloading a bomb of a point shot that beat the screened Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid.
New Jersey's Andy Greene responded less than two minutes later with his first of the season to make it a 3-2 game, but Meier again made it a two-goal San Jose lead with another top-shelf rocket at 14:52 of the second period.
Tomas Hertl rounded out the scoring at 14:23 of the third period with a power-play tally. Hertl was parked at the front of the net, and he found the loose puck before sliding it home to give him a two-point outing.
Pavelski and Greene each collected one goal and one assist.
Kinkaid stopped 29 shots for the Devils, who are on a 1-4-4 slide that has dropped them to the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
--Field Level Media
New Jersey | San Jose | |
Andy Greene 2 | Points | Timo Meier 2 |
Andy Greene 1 | Goals | Timo Meier 2 |
Andy Greene 1 | Assists | Tomas Hertl 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Tomas Hertl 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Keith Kinkaid .853 | Save Percentage | Martin Jones .917 |
Keith Kinkaid 29 | Saves | Martin Jones 22 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
New Jersey | 24 | 2 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 4 | 22 |
San Jose | 34 | 5 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 4 | 38 |