Sharks 3, Islanders 1: Logan Couture scored the tiebreaking goal with just over eight minutes left in the third period to lift host San Jose.

Tomas Hertl broke an eight-game goal-scoring drought with a power-play tally and James Sheppard added an insurance goal as the Sharks avenged a shootout loss at New York on Oct. 16. Antti Niemi turned aside 19 shots as San Jose sent the Islanders to their third straight defeat.

Kyle Okposo scored the lone goal for New York, which dropped to 0-2-0 on its five-game Western Conference road trip. Jaroslav Halak (28 saves) lost his fourth consecutive start and has allowed at least three goals in six of his seven appearances.

The Islanders broke on top when Okposo took a drop pass from defenseman Nick Leddy, cut between two defenders in the left faceoff circle and fired a low shot into the right corner of the net 8:06 into the contest. Hertl, dropped to the fourth line due to his recent struggles, converted on the power play when he slammed home a puck on the doorstep just over two minutes later.

It stayed 1-1 until Marc-Edouard Vlasic sent a crossing pass to fellow blue-liner Justin Braun, whose shot from the right wing appeared headed wide - only to be redirectly perfectly by Couture with 8:10 to play for his sixth goal in nine games. Sheppard notched his first of the season 3:45 later, cutting to the net to deflect Adam Burish's pass past Halak.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Islanders D Travis Hamonic returned to the lineup after missing four games, but LW Cory Conacher missed a portion of the third after taking a blow to the head from D Jason Demers before he was sent off for good after receiving a 10-minute misconduct. ... Sharks D Scott Hannan, who was honored in a pregame ceremony commemorating his 1,000th game at Washington on Oct. 14, played only six shifts in the first period before going to the locker room to be evaluated for an undisclosed injury. ... New York, which entered with the league's worst penalty kill at 66.7 percent, has surrendered a power-play goal in four consecutive games.