SAN JOSE, Calif. -- New Jersey Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid bounced back in a big way Thursday night.

New Jersey's back-up stopped all 30 shots he faced while his Devils teammates provided three goals of support as the visitors added to San Jose's home woes with a 3-0 victory at SAP Center.

"Just from the start I felt a little better," said Kinkaid, who surrendered six goals a loss Sunday to Pittsburgh. "I was tracking it better, (and) better mentally prepared. Definitely night and day."

San Jose, meanwhile, dropped to 1-7-1 during a return from road trips of two more games as the Sharks, who possess the best road record in the league, dropped to a pedestrian 12-15-3 as hosts.

"Those are always tough games when you return home after a road trip no matter how long it is," Sharks defenseman Paul Martin said. "We've been successful on the road, and it takes a lot out of us.

"I imagine winning those games, and finding a way to win, maybe we take it for granted or expect the same thing is going to happen at home."

Not only that, but their latest loss on home ice wasted an opportunity to gain ground on idle Anaheim and Los Angeles -- San Jose's two Pacific Division rivals ahead of them in the closely contested standings.

"It doesn't matter who we play, we're trying to look ahead at the teams are ahead of us in the standings," Sharks forward Dainius Zubrus said. "Today is a missed opportunity."

Travis Zajac scored twice in the final period and Devante Smith-Pelly broke a scoreless tie early in the middle session for the Devils.

"Obviously the last couple of weeks things haven't been going our way," Devils forward Kyle Palmieri said. "Keith stood on his head, and the penalty kill did a great job tonight. And we were able to steals two points."

New Jersey broke through at 3:14 of the second period for the only goal during the first two periods.

Smith-Pelly drove the left side, pulled up and fired a shot across his body that beat Sharks goaltender Martin Jones, who appeared to be screened.

Smith-Pelly's ninth goal of the season went through Sharks defenseman Roman Polak. Jones may have been screened, too, by the ex-Devil Zubrus, who was locked up skating through the slot with New Jersey's Stephen Gionta.

New Jersey's 10th shot, resulting in the goal, was the last it managed in the period.

Losers of two straight, five of six and eight of 10 coming in, New Jersey earned some breathing room when Zajac scored an unassisted goal at 1:37 of the third period. He added an empty-netter late.

Zajac walked out front with a turnover and shot on Jones. The puck squirted over the San Jose goalie where defenseman Brent Burns reached behind and swatted the puck along the goal line until it struck the near post. The puck got on its end and literally twirled over the line by inches before Jones could locate it.

Martin and Zubrus got tangled behind the net and combined to turn the puck over. Zajac's 11th goal snapped a stretch of 18:23 without a New Jersey shot in the contest.

"It's one of those things where we've got to be more clean in our own end," Martin said.

The Sharks possess the league's fourth most potent power play, but it went 0-for-3 against the Devils despite racking up nine shots during a combined six minutes of 5-on-4 skating.

"The start of the game wasn't great for us, they had more jump," Zubrus said. "We regrouped between periods and for the second and third it was better but like I said we've got to score goals to win games."

"We got better as it went along, but no excuses we've got to find ways to win games at home," Martin added.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak for New Jersey, which had also lost five of six and eight of 10. Knowing it will be without starting goalie Cory Schneider for at least a couple of weeks, the Devils needed this badly.

"It was nice to see Keith be able to come back and play well," Devils coach John Hynes said. "He certainly deserved the shutout. I thought our team played well in general and defended well, but when we did have some breakdowns he came up big and certainly deserved to get the shutout."

NOTES: D Roman Polak played Thursday despite sustaining a broken nose as a result of getting jumped by Edmonton D Darnell Nurse late in Tuesday's game. Nurse received a three-game suspension for his actions. ... New Jersey LW Tyler Kennedy struggled to even get in the lineup during his two recent seasons in San Jose, but he started on Thursday on the Devils' top line. ... Back-up G Keith Kinkaid made his second straight start for New Jersey, who will be without G Cory Schneider for at least two weeks. Schneider has a sprained MCL, which will be evaluated in a couple weeks. ... Injured Sharks RW Tommy Wingels hopes to return next week. Wingels missed his 11th straight game with an upper-body injury. ... D Dylan DeMelo and D Matt Tennyson were San Jose's healthy scratches while D Jon Merrill, LW Tuomo Ruutu, C Jacob Josefson and D Damon Severson did not dress for New Jersey.