Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns each scored for the third consecutive game for the Sharks, who are on their longest winning streak since starting the season with seven straight wins.

San Jose had won just three of its previous 25 games in regulation before this current streak that started with a home-and-home sweep of first-place Anaheim and ended with a shutout of the rival Red Wings.

The Sharks have moved from ninth place to seventh in the Western Conference with the three wins this week, all coming after general manager Doug Wilson dealt bruising defender Douglas Murray to Pittsburgh for two draft picks.

The Red Wings came into the game as the more rested team having had two days off since beating Phoenix on Monday night to improve to 3-0 on this four-game road trip. But they couldn’t complete the perfect Western swing as they failed to generate many scoring chances against Niemi.

Niemi needed to make only 22 saves in the 4-0 win over Anaheim on Wednesday night and wasn’t tested too much more against the Red Wings. He earned back-to-back shutouts for the third time in his career and did on consecutive nights for the first time.

With backup Thomas Greiss out with a neck injury, Niemi has started 11 straight games and has shown no signs of wearing down with the heavy workload.

He made back-to-back saves on Gustav Nyquist and Jordin Tootoo in the second period to thwart Detroit’s best chance and preserve the 1-0 lead.

The Sharks took advantage of a Detroit mistake for an insurance goal early in the third. Joe Thornton took the puck from Brian Lashoff on the forecheck and slid a pass to Burns, who beat Jimmy Howard up high to make it 2-0. Burns now has 10 points in nine games since moving from defense to forward, including goals in three straight.

Niemi preserved the shutout with a nice stop on a backhander by Henrik Zetterberg with Detroit on the only power play of the game later in the third period.

Pavelski got San Jose started on the scoring front for the second straight game when his pass deflected off Niklas Kronwall’s skate and past Howard for a goal with 1:01 left in the opening period. Pavelski has now scored in three straight games after having just one goal in the previous 18 contests.

He had earlier missed an opportunity to score when he attempted a pass to Ryane Clowe on a 2-on-1 that was broken up by the Detroit defense.

NOTES: Niemi had consecutive shutouts last season against Calgary and Columbus on each side of the All-Star break. … Detroit F Johan Franzen left the game with a lower-body injury in the second period. … San Jose improved to 10-1-4 at home. … Sharks F Logan Couture celebrated his 24th birthday. … Detroit assistant coach Tom Renney left the team to attend a memorial service for his late mother.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Havlat snapped a 15-game goal drought, Joe Pavelski scored just his second goal in 19 games and added a late assist, and James Sheppard wrapped it up with his first goal of the season with 9:56 to play in San Jose’s final stop on a five-game trip.

Emerson Etem scored his second career goal and Francois Beauchemin also scored for the Ducks, who wrapped up a string of five home games in eight days with their first three-game skid of the season.

Corey Perry scored for Anaheim with 1:40 to play, but Dan Boyle scored on an empty net with 28 seconds left.

Antti Niemi stopped 24 shots for the road-weary Sharks, who begin a seven-game homestand Wednesday against Anaheim needing a strong push to make the playoffs for the 14th time in 15 seasons.

Viktor Fasth made 34 saves for the Ducks, who have hit the first skid in their remarkable season.

The Ducks have followed up their triumphant win over NHL-leading Chicago last Wednesday with three consecutive losses, including back-to-back defeats from Detroit by a combined 7-2 over the previous three days. Anaheim had won a franchise-record 13 straight home games before its current slump.

Teemu Selanne didn’t score while appearing in his 1,373rd NHL game, surpassing Teppo Numminen’s record for Finnish players.

The Sharks had plenty of jump in their first game since trading veteran Swedish defenseman Douglas Murray to Pittsburgh earlier in the day for two second-round draft picks, ending his eight-year tenure with San Jose.

San Jose took a 3-0 lead before holding on in the second of three meetings in 10 days for the California rivals. The Ducks beat San Jose 5-3 a week ago, and they’ll meet at the Shark Tank in two days.

The Sharks led 2-0 just 7:10 in on goals from Burns and Pavelski, who pounced for just his second goal since Feb. 11 when Sheppard jarred the puck loose from Perry in the slot. Havlat then scored just his fourth goal of the season on a long rebound in the slot in the opening minute of the second period, setting off scattered boos at Honda Center.

The Ducks finally answered midway through the period when Etem and Sharks defenseman Brad Stuart both chipped at the puck on Etem’s rush. The puck deflected again off Stuart’s body and past Niemi for the 20-year-old Etem’s second NHL goal in eight days, both against San Jose.

The momentum appeared to be moving when Beauchemin scored in the opening minute of the third period, firing a top-corner shot off a setup by captain Ryan Getzlaf. The Sharks had an apparent power-play goal waved off with 12:04 to play when video review couldn’t overturn the on-ice call against Logan Couture, who deflected a long shot with a high stick.

Moments later, Sheppard threw a long shot at the net, and it might have deflected off Anaheim’s Ben Lovejoy before finding Fasth’s net.

NOTES: Justin Braun took the lineup spot that likely would have been filled by Murray for the Sharks, who dressed seven defensemen. … New Anaheim RW Radek Dvorak arrived from Europe earlier Monday and cleared waivers, likely allowing him to join the Ducks’ lineup this week. The 36-year-old Czech will begin his 17th NHL season after playing 73 games for Dallas last year. … Referee Gord Dwyer officiated his second straight game at Honda Center. He wasn’t joined by referee Kevin Pollock, whose last-minute tripping call against Getzlaf with 34 seconds to play Sunday short-circuited the Ducks’ late comeback attempt against Detroit and led to 40 minutes in misconduct penalties against Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Selanne. … Sharks LW Ryane Clowe missed his fourth straight game with a shoulder injury despite participating in the morning skate.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

The defending Stanley Cup champion Kings, coming off a 2-0 home loss to Dallas on Thursday in which they had 40 shots, were shut out for the third time this season. It is the first time they have been blanked in consecutive games since Feb. 16-18, 2012.

Schneider has played the last three games for the Canucks, facing 88 shots and allowing only three goals. His other shutout this season was on Jan. 26 at Anaheim.

The Canucks, who maintained their share of the Northwest Division lead with Minnesota, scored the only goal at 11:06 of the first period.

WILD 2, SHARKS 0

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Niklas Backstrom made 33 saves for his first shutout of the season, and Ryan Suter had two more assists, leading Minnesota past San Jose for the Wild’s season-high fifth straight victory.

Zach Parise and Jared Spurgeon scored for Minnesota. The Wild are 14-5-1 in their last 20 games, and have won by at least two goals in each victory in the streak.

Backstrom swatted aside Andrew Desjardins’ penalty shot barely 3 minutes into the game. The goalie is 13-3-1 in his last 17 games, giving up two goals or fewer in 13 of those turns.

Antti Niemi made several tough stops among his 22 saves for the Sharks,

The Sharks won their first seven games, but since then they have been unable to stay in a groove. They fell to 2-5-2 in their last nine.

SENATORS 5, LIGHTNING 3

OTTAWA (AP) — Jakob Silfverberg, Eric Gryba, Guillaume Latendresse and Daniel Alfredsson scored in a 7:01 span in the first period, and Ottawa held off Tampa Bay.

Alfredsson also had an empty-net goal in the final minute. Robin Lehner made 29 saves, and Marc Methot, who missed the last game because of a knee injury, and Kyle Turris each had two assists.

Tyler Johnson scored twice in the third period for Tampa Bay, and Teddy Purcell made it 4-3 with 1:59 left.

Mathieu Garon was yanked from the Tampa Bay net in the first period after allowing three goals on the first 11 shots. Cedrick Desjardins was strong in relief, making 19 saves.

Viktor Fasth made 32 saves for the streaking Ducks, who have the NHL’s second-best record at 21-3-4 while earning a point in 11 straight games.

Captain Ryan Getzlaf had a short-handed goal and an assist, while Peter Holland and Etem scored 34 seconds apart in the second period to keep the Ducks unbeaten at Honda Center since their opener Jan. 25.

Jason Demers scored his first NHL goal and Antti Niemi stopped 23 shots for the Sharks, who have lost six of seven. Matt Irwin and Patrick Marleau scored after Anaheim took a 4-1 lead to make it close.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

McLellan is an outside-the-box-fearless genius for solving a problem with the pieces at hand instead of waiting for new ones. That declaration is contingent on him keeping Brent Burns at forward. Failure to continue doing so will trigger revocation of said genius status and an indefinite stay inside the box.

Loved Cranky showing off for his dissenters.  Seriously, all the way down and around the net, with a shot reversed through his legs?  Beautiful.  Makes me want to say something vulgar to the haters.

Back to that big fancy new forward Brent Burns. I’ve liked that idea more by the minute, but I think my liking is maxed out, I don’t know if I can keep liking it more. It might give me an aneurysm or something.

Burns is an unstoppable force. That’s great to have on the blue line, but it’s what the Sharks need up front so heck with expectations.  I hope he stays there, I hope Hedican will stop talking about how forwards have their brains turned off.

Maybe the Sharks should have all the forwards skate backward during the next few practices. It isn’t a matter of turning brains off, but rather giving them a spin or two.

I wish someone would give lower profile guys more press time. They might stop being so low profile. It isn’t like they don’t all know how to talk to the press. They might surprise, they might charm some fans. Mix it up, people!

Desi seems so chatty, has so much to say to opponents, he must be a character. He shouldn’t have to squish someone, fight, and get Muzzin out of the game for a period to get some attention. Wish he’d wear a visor.

Fearless is fine, don’t fear the visor.

Looked like Irwin might be injured there for a minute. Good thing Demers is healthy. If course he would be, what with hardly ever playing. Will McLellan de-genius himself, move Burns back to defense, and keep scratching Demers?

Heck, if the Sharks don’t want him, maybe the Flyers do. They’re hurting on the blue line big time. They could use Demers. So could the Sharks, but they’re not, so…

Niemi would have had to tackle Brown in the circle to stop that first goal. A bit sloppy, guys.  The end of the second period looked like my spare room, or the path of a tornado.

Clowe started some damage control with that nice break in, drawing the penalty and giving the Sharks a chance to tidy up. Is he a neat freak? I wonder if he keeps his shoes lined up neatly in the closet. Too bad about that last pass. It’s okay, Clowe made the power play, he gets a pass on a bad one.

Marleau hit someone. It was such a surprise,  the Kings got all agitated. Maybe they forgot he could do that.

Brown with two goals? I guess that’s a captain’s job. That second one looked a lot like Irwin’s. Deadly. Hear that Brown? The Sharks most junior d-man did what you did, in case you didn’t see it.

Irwin seems fine. As you were, Demers.

What the…? 4-3? You sneaky bleached-out creepers.

Nice to see Clowe dragging three guys to the goal line, causing such a panic. Burnzie doing the same thing, and getting some help.  The crush of humanity, the chaos!

Where were Carter and Richards? Nice of them to be so polite in The Tank. Such considerate guests.

Niemi was a little busy at the end, put a nice finish on the game. Well done.

Post-game:

Desi deserved a star you stingy dopes.

Burns said he doesn’t think his legs can take it? Don’t be ridiculous. That’s not the skating he was feeling, it was the all the extra bodies in white he was dragging around with him.  If he can unfasten some of them, his legs will be fine.

And Couture was saying it too. Yes, yes, I get it, D-men are supposed to be smarter than forwards. Now stop calling forwards brainless. It’s not good for the team’s confidence. A lot of them are forwards.

Couture didn’t even know what he was saying, he was so happy about his new linemate. Don’t take Burnzie away from Coutch, McLellan, we may never see him smile again.

Great game. Seems like a good place to stop.

Couture added a second goal and Brent Burns also scored for the Sharks, who earned just their third regulation win in 21 games. Antti Niemi made 34 saves and was the beneficiary of San Jose’s highest scoring game since Jan. 27.

The victory was the 207th for coach Todd McLellan, breaking the franchise record set by Ron Wilson.

Dustin Brown scored twice and Dwight King added a goal for Los Angeles. Jonathan Quick was lifted after allowing three goals on 12 shots as the defending Stanley Cup-champion Kings lost consecutive games for the first time in more than a month.

The game turned midway through the second period after Andrew Desjardins flattened Los Angeles’ Colin Fraser with a legal shoulder check behind the Kings’ net. Muzzin took exception to the hit and started a fight with Desjardins that led to the key power play when Muzzin got four extra minutes of penalties for instigating a fight while wearing a facemask.

Irwin capitalized for San Jose when he scored on a wrist shot from the top of the circle that appeared to fool Quick, giving San Jose a 2-0 lead.

The Sharks scored again on the second power play when Couture blasted a shot from just inside the blue line off a blind pass from Joe Thornton for his 11th goal of the season. That led to the early exit for Quick, who also allowed five goals in a loss at Phoenix on Tuesday.

Jonathan Bernier kept the Kings in the game when he stopped Adam Burish on a partial breakaway with Los Angeles on the power play. That led directly to Brown’s 10th goal at the other end, cutting San Jose’s lead to 3-1.

Couture restored the three-goal lead in the opening minute of the third period after Burns caused a turnover to set up a 2-on-0 breakaway.

Brown added his second goal late in the third period, giving him 11 on the season. King scored on a rebound with 3:20 to play but Los Angeles couldn’t get the equalizer as Niemi stopped Jeff Carter and Justin Williams in the closing seconds.

This game started a crucial stretch for the Sharks, who had lost 14 of 18 following a franchise record 7-0 start to the lockout-shortened season. San Jose hits the road after this for five games, beginning Saturday night in Los Angeles.

The Sharks have lost nine of 13 road games this season and can afford few slipups in the tightly packed Western Conference playoff race. San Jose and Los Angeles are in a three-way tie for fifth place with 30 points, one point ahead of Detroit and Phoenix.

The Kings thoroughly dominated the first period but ended up on the short end of a 1-0 score when Burns got to a loose puck in front of the net and knocked it past Quick for his second goal in two games since moving from the blue line to forward.

Niemi made that lead stand up through 20 minutes, stopping 16 shots in the opening period.

NOTES: The Sharks improved to 8-1-4 at home this season. … The Kings had gotten at least a point in their previous five games against San Jose. … Los Angeles last lost consecutive games on Feb. 7 and 10 at Nashville and Detroit. … Los Angeles forward Anze Kopitar played his 500th career NHL game.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Brent Burns scored his first in his season debut at forward and Dan Boyle had a late power-play goal for the Sharks, who have lost four in a row and have dropped 10 of 12 to the Blues, including the first round of the playoffs last season.

The Blues overcame a two-goal deficit in a 4-3 overtime victory Saturday night in San Jose and clinched this one on Stewart’s empty-netter with 1:16 to go, four seconds after goalie Antti Niemi was pulled.

Allen has won six of his first seven career NHL starts, also besting the Sharks in San Jose.

Allen has made the most of his chance with a team that had appeared set at goalie. Brian Elliott has been benched with a 3.65 goals-against average, and Jaroslav Halak has been inconsistent and has missed time due to injury.

The shot total was by far the highest faced this season by the Blues, topping the 32 in a 5-2 win at Calgary on Feb. 13 with Allen in goal.

Blues forward T.J. Oshie (upper body) didn’t return after getting injured while checking Burns midway through the second period. Oshie got medical attention in the tunnel behind the bench before heading to the dressing room, and was credited with one hit in 5:33.

Burns returned from a leg injury that landed him on the injured list with his first point of the season in seven games. The Sharks moved Burns up from defense to forward after he totaled 12 goals in the previous six games.

San Jose, which entered next-to-last in the NHL with 56 goals, has just two regulation victories in 20 games.

Seven St. Louis players had a point to boost an offense minus its second line of Alex Steen, Andy McDonald and rookie Vladimir Tarasenko, and help the Blues move above .500 (6-5-1) at home.

Stewart beat Niemi on a break-in for the lone goal of the first period, giving him three goals and five assists in five games.

David Perron deflected an off-target pass from Patrik Berglund with his left skate to make it 2-0 midway through the second. Burns answered 1:02 later on a shot from high slot.

Barret Jackman, usually a stay-at-home defenseman, has five points in five games after joining the rush. He handcuffed Niemi with a backhander that left Porter with an open net for the rebound with 6.8 seconds left in the second.

Boyle scored with a one-timer only four seconds into a two-man advantage with 6:28 to go after Jackman (boarding) joined Scott Nichol (holding) in the penalty box.

NOTES: Boyle’s fourth of the season ended a 1-for-38, power-play slump the last nine games for the Sharks. The goal was just the second allowed by Blues penalty killers in eight home games. … Berglund has a five-game point streak with four goals and two assists.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

The Sharks continued their usual up and down rollercoaster style of play this weekend, playing against a tough Blues team and a Colorado Avalanche squad who finally ended the Blackhawks’ historic run. All three teams are fighting for position in a tight Western Conference, meaning every point is critical.

There was some good and some bad from this weekend. So let’s just get right into it.

Good: The Sharks scored three goals in a game.

The offense got going against the Blues, putting up three goals, and going into the third period up 3-1.

Not so good: The Blues scored four, including the overtime winner.

Antti Niemi had six minutes of poor goaltending. It was arguably his only bad six minutes all season. Unfortunately, it led to two St. Louis goals, and he was quickly yanked in favor of backup, Alex Stalock. You have to wonder though if TMac makes that call if Greiss is still in the lineup…

Good: Scott Gomez got it going against the Blues.

Gomez is playing well right now, getting his second goal in three games and an assist against the Blues.

Not so good: Ryane Clowe is still struggling.

Clowe is set to have a breakout game soon, right? Right now, he’s doing two things: generating chances and turning over the puck. Unfortunately, I saw the turnover machine operating at full speed this weekend.

Good: Niemi bounced back against the Avs.

Niemi looked good against Colorado, making huge save after huge save, and helped the Sharks battle back from a 2-0 deficit.

Not so good: The offense didn’t.

Again, the offense managed to get no more than two goals, while going 0-5 on the power play.

Good: The Sharks got two points.

Not so good: The points both came in overtime losses, giving opponents valuable points in a tight race.

Additional Notes:

Tommy Wingels is back, and looks fantastic up on the top line with Thornton and Couture. He brings the speed and tenacity that is needed in the top six. Matt Irwin looks like the real deal. He’s playing solid defense and has a straight up canon from the point. I hope he stays in the lineup long term. With Irwin playing well, the Sharks have an excess of outstanding defensemen. It looks like it might be time to try to move some pieces to add offense.

Next game is at St. Louis on Tuesday. A win would be nice. Let’s go Sharks.

Duchene corralled a deflection from teammate P.A. Parenteau’s desperation, long-distance shot and scored his second goal of the night as time was about to expire in overtime, lifting the Colorado Avalanche over the San Jose Sharks 3-2 on Sunday to stretch their home winning streak to a season-high five games.

“It feels awesome. I didn’t think it was going to count,” Duchene said. “Obviously, you’re really excited at first but you’re holding back a bit in case it doesn’t count.”

Officials upheld the goal after a replay review showed Duchene got the shot past goalie Antti Niemi an instant before time would have run out in the extra period.

“The puck was sitting there,” Duchene said. “I just reached in and tried to club at it. I got underneath it, and it was able to go over his shoulder. It was a pretty ugly goal, but we’ll take it, that’s for sure.”

Niemi said he didn’t doubt the goal beat the clock.

“I thought it was a good goal,” he said. “I heard the horn. Made it by quite a bit.”

The decisive sequence began when Parenteau, seeing the clock ticking down to a couple of seconds, launched a slap shot from inside the blue line that ricocheted off San Jose’s Joe Pavelski.

“I was aware of the time. That’s why I took the slap shot,” Parenteau said. “Otherwise, I would have taken it in myself. Everything worked out. We couldn’t come up with a regulation win, but we’ll take the two points and we’re back to .500 now.”

Patrick Marleau scored San Jose’s first goal, the 400th of his career. Logan Couture tied the score 2-all at 16:35 of the third when he followed a turnover by Colorado with a slap shot that got past goalie Semyon Varlamov.

“Tough way to lose,” said Joe Thornton, who assisted on Couture’s goal. “We had the good effort. It was unfortunate to lose on a bounce like that.”

Ryan O’Reilly also scored in a second straight game for the Avalanche, who beat the Sharks for the first time in the third and final meeting between the teams during the NHL’s lockout-shortened season.

Duchene, who matched a career high with four points in Friday night’s 6-2 win over Chicago that stopped the Blackhawks’ record season-opening points streak at 24 games, got Colorado on the board at 6:47 of the first period. With the Avalanche on a power play, Parenteau sent a pass across the crease through traffic that reached Duchene, and he lifted the puck over Niemi’s right shoulder for his 10th of the season.

Midway through the second, the Avalanche killed off a San Jose power play with the help of some tenacious goaltending by Varlamov. The Sharks peppered Colorado’s netminder with seven shots over the 2-minute power play but he turned the flurry away with an array of glove, stick, kick and body saves.

Less than a minute later, right wing Aaron Palushaj led a 2-on-1 rush before centering a pass to the streaking O’Reilly, who knocked the puck into the net past Niemi on his glove side at 6:58.

San Jose pulled within a goal at 19:20 of the second when Marleau redirected a shot from Justin Braun past the surprised Varlamov.

NOTES: With an assist on Duchene’s first-period goal, Parenteau extended his career-high points streak to six games. … The Sharks won the two previous meetings between the teams, one of which went to a shootout. … Marleau leads the Sharks with 13 goals this season. … The next assist by Colorado’s Chuck Kobasew will be the 100th of his career.

By DENNIS GEORGATOS, Associated Press

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

If you’ve had to be around me in the last week or so, you might say I was a bit surly when discussing the Sharks’ current scoring woes. And so for that, I want to apologize to all of you, and bring you all a positive post in time for San Jose’s matchup against the Blues.

Antti Niemi is getting a lot of Vezina love.

Niemi has been a straight-up beast this season. He took his offseason conditioning seriously, and it shows. He’s gotten a bunch of Vezina buzz, even from ESPN. Simply put, if Niemi isn’t playing at the elite level he has been so far, the Sharks are looking at draft position.

The penalty kill has been fantastic.

Thank you, Larry Robinson and Brad Stuart. It seems that when the Sharks are focused at improving something and are given time to do so, they can be incredibly successful. Let’s hope the last few days off help improve the offense.

At least the Sharks aren’t last in scoring.

That distinction belongs to the Nashville Predators. Wait, they scored six against Edmonton last night, you say? This whole “positivity” thing is getting to be pretty hard.

(Inaccurate) Prediction: Sharks win 3-1 (they have to score more than two at some point, right?), with goals from Marleau, Pavelski, and Couture.

In a way, Damien Brunner owes his shootout career to Pavel Datsyuk, Valtteri Filppula, Henrik Zetterberg and Sergei Bobrovsky. If one of Brunner’s teammates had scored on Sergei Bobrovsky back on January 21, 2013, he may never had gotten a shot to prove what he could do. Fortunately, none of them did, forcing Mike Babcock to send out Brunner as his fourth shooter. That’s when he did this:

He hasn’t been out of the shootout lineup since.

Let’s just get to it. The newest entry to the Shootout Book: Damien Brunner. The prodigy?

The Basics: Brunner is 2-for-7 in shootouts

Goals: 1/21/13 @ Columbus (Sergei Bobrovsky), 2/28/13 @ San Jose (Antti Niemi)

Misses: 3/3/13 vs. Chicago (Corey Crawford), 3/10/13 vs. Columbus (Sergei Bobrovsky),  4/11/13 vs. San Jose (Antti Niemi), 4/12/13 @ Chicago (Corey Crawford), 4/20/13 @ Vancouver (Cory Schneider)

Brunner shot chart. (Black = goal. Red = miss.)

The Strategy: Brunner’s style resembles Pavel Datsyuk’s. He’s got one set move that he can alter in a variety of ways. Most of the time, he’ll start by sweeping out slightly to the left. As a right-handed shot, this changes the angle for the goalie while still keeping the puck in the center of the ice, allowing Brunner the whole net to shoot at.

From there, he’s going to make one hard fake. After that, Brunner has a two options: either pull the puck to the left side try to stuff it in the low corner like he did against Bobrovksy and tried to go against Niemi, or stick the right and follow up the fake with a forehand that tries to slip over the pad and under the arm, the latter of which was executed perfectly in Brunner’s first attempt against Niemi. The evidence, however, is still a little light. Against Vancouver Brunner skated in as hard as he could and shot. He may have some more tricks he’s not showing us yet.

The Takeaway: The first half of Brunner’s attempts are predictable. You’re kind of lulled into sleep with a half-speed attempt on goal, and then of the sudden it’s like WA-BAM! If I’m a goalie, I’m not biting on the fake until Brunner proves he’s willing to rip off an uninhibited wrister. After that it’s a guessing game. Perhaps the best strategy for a goalie is to stay out out to take away the shooting angle and then try to poke check the deke. If you’re successful you make Brunner look like an idiot. Miss though, and you’re going to be on Sports Center as a flailing victim of a Top 10 play.

Whether Brunner shoots or dekes, makes or misses, it’s not going to be boring. He has me howling like a banshee almost every time.

Shootout deadliness: 4 “OHHHH BA-BY!“s out of 5 

No canned responses about “working hard”, “winning the battles” and “putting the last game behind you” (The Canucks still have “Flames loss stank” all over them). I would love it if there was a bit more colour in those interviews and players said what they were really thinking.

SAN JOSE SHARKS

Head Coach Todd McLellen – “Hopefully this win cheers me up. I’m tired of looking like an overweight, sleep deprived Jeremy Renner with a hint of a drug problem. People are very mean… and specific”.

Antti Niemi – “I remember saying to myself if the net: ‘Is that Edler guy shooting again?!’ and he just kept shooting and shooting and… I honestly felt a little bad for him. If we were up a few goals, I would’ve let one in. He was working so hard, you know?”

Joe Thornton – “Make no mistake about it, I was out there, in uniform tonight. Don’t let the highlights fool you, I participated fully in this game.”

Scott Gomez – “Hah! I did score before the next Olympic games. I just won $500. Screw it, I’m gonna let it ride on the next game and bet on getting a hat trick… I have a problem”.

Bracken Kearns – “Can’t believe I didn’t score my first career goal against them tonight. Everybody does! When do we play them next? That will be the time to release the Bracken!”

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

Head Coach Alain Vigneault – “I’m about 4 or 5 shootouts away from realizing maybe Alex Edler isn’t the sure thing I think he is”.

Cory Schneider – “I hear Luongo is getting himself a Vancouver Millionaires mask too, so I had to step it up to ensure my start next Saturday. Just ignore that first goal”.

Henrik Sedin – “Nearly got a puck off the eye tonight. We all know what that leads to on this team: forced retirement”.

Daniel Sedin – “I want to play with Mason Raymond as my center. That guy is making it rain points up in here”.

Alex Burrows – “Didn’t go backhand in the shootout. To be honest, I was going to, just misjudged the distance to the net. 10 feet deeper and I was unleashing the backhand.”

Tom Sestito – “Tonight I decided to focus on the part of my game that isn’t punching fools in the face so… yeah, it was a quiet night for me”.

Zack Kassian – “Cody Hodgson did what?!”.

Cam Barker – “Okay, so I may have blocked a crucial shot for us, BUT still I’m just happy to be part of the game.”

Mason Raymond – “Sucks to lose a close one like that, but I got myself the Quattro, so tonight isn’t a total wash.”

Jannik Hansen – “My kids have a deeper voice than me already. That’s a hard thing to get past and focus on the game”.

Chris Tanev – “Had to take a short siesta because my knee hurt… and I really needed a smoke. Don’t do what I do though, kids. Don’t hurt your knees”.

Alex Edler – “Okay, at a certain point one just has to go in by accident, right? It’s the Jason Garrison rule!”.

Jason Garrison – “Eat s**t, Edler. Beard off! Anytime… anywhere!”

Dan Hamhuis – “I haven’t taken 17 shots this season, let alone in one game. Strikes me as a little selfish, you know?”

Keith Ballard – “I was having a solid game, so I just decided to get the hell out of there before I got blamed for something that wasn’t my fault. It’s all about self-preservation now”.

(Pictured: The Dream)

You can follow j.Bowman on twitter (@jBowmancouver). Columbus is friggin’ dead on Thursday. That awesome cannon of theirs will go un-fired!

1. I’m sorry. Increasingly, I don’t get the shootout and feel it’s not the answer for the NHL. You’ve just gone through 60 minutes which may or may not have been entertaining; let’s pretend that, at very least, some of the 60 minutes have been entertaining. But you’re tied, and that’s no answer. So you go to overtime, where you drop a skater and, almost certainly, the ensuing five minutes, or less, are more entertaining than the first 60 were. In fact, I’d be willing to wager that, often during those five minutes or less, it’s downright breathtaking. Let’s say that Tuesday’s Canucks-Sharks game pretty much fits what’s described above. So at the end of this pretty fine 65 minutes, the power, the intensity and the sizzle get taken out of the equation. The shootout starts and stops. Alex Edler walks the puck into Antti Niemi. The air seeps out of the balloon. I’m sorry, I can’t remember the last compelling shootout I watched. Then again, maybe I’m watching the wrong team.

2. The Canucks are now 2-5 in the shootout this season with, at this pace, another five to six shootout losses coming in the next seven weeks. Incredibly, they were 8-7 in the shootout last season. But let’s just say, for argument’s sake, that they’re not particularly good at this part of the game. And let’s just say, anecdotally at least, that you give them better odds of winning the overtime. You know, the Sedins and all that. So wouldn’t you do anything to win the overtime? Let’s just throw it out there. Just as the Canucks once revolutionized the power play with that fabulous drop pass that no longer exists, they could revolutionize overtime. When Scott Gomez got that goalie-interference penalty in overtime, the Canucks spent two minutes playing 4-on-3. What if they’d pulled Schneider? What if they’d had the balls to take that risk? It is a risk, of course. Few people know that, according to NHL rule 84.2, you can pull your goalie for an extra attacker in overtime, but if the other team scores you forfeit the point you automatically get, just for getting to overtime. It might be ballsy, even foolish, but I’d applaud that move, even just one time. That power play was intense; imagine if they’d had another guy out there. Don’t laugh at the idea; it might just work. (Frankly, the forfeiting-the-point rule is absurd. Punishing a team for making OT even more exciting? So NHL!)

3. I’ll applaud this: Alain Vigneault’s decision to send Jannik Hansen out as the third shooter. I mean, look down the bench. Who inspires confidence? Which guy can you guarantee will at very least put it somewhere on goal? The Canucks’ active leader, Alex Burrows, has scored on 42 per cent of his attempts. Daniel Sedin is 4-for-23 lifetime. His brother — you know, the one who’s the Canucks’ all-time scoring leader — has tried the shootout three times. Three times! And no, he hasn’t scored. And if you’re going to send Max Lapierre out there, because you think at 4-for-9 he has a pretty good track record, you might also want to consider if he’s really contributed much to the game, and whether you truly believe he has a hot hand, or is about to deliver. There’s a crapshoot. So interestingly, Vigneault ignored the 12 guys who’d performed in the shootout previously, and went with Hansen. His effort fizzled, like so many shootout efforts do. (Sportsnet’s John Garrett made reference to Hansen’s “Harry Potter”-like wave of the stick coming in, a failed twist on a fake.) But here’s the thing: Hansen was awesome on Sunday night against Calgary, just hours after his twin sons were born. Two nights later with, I’m sure, no great amount of sleep, he was just as good, perhaps even better. He scored a beautiful goal in the second period to tie the game, and every time he was on the ice he was compelling to watch. Vigneault should go back to Hansen during an upcoming shootout. He has five points in his last three games. He makes things happen, all over the ice. So give him the puck again. Let him take his shot. Unless, of course, you have the cajones to pull the goalie in OT.

But out of a broken play that resulted in a Henrik Sedin goal in the second period, the Canucks began playing with purpose. They still didn’t get the desired result, losing 3-2 in a four-round shootout. Sharks forward Joe Pavelski scored the winner in the skills competition. Sharks goalie Antti Niemi stopped three of four shots in the shootout.

Both teams traded chances in the third period, and the Canucks couldn’t capitalize on a four-on-three power play in overtime.

It wasn’t an ideal start.

Scott Gomez, who was unceremoniously run out of Montreal when the lockout ended and sent home from training camp only to sign with San Jose, got the Sharks on the board with his first goal of the season.

After the Sharks caught the Canucks fourth line of Jordan Schroeder, Tom Sestito and Dale Weise running around in the defensive end, Gomez got the puck in the high slot and wired a slap shot over the blocker of Canucks goalie Cory Schneider.

Schroeder provided the screen.

The Canucks carried the run of play in the opening 20 minutes, outshooting the Sharks 17-7.

Sharks goalie Antti Niemi, who came into the game with an impressive 1.83 goals-against average, third best among NHL goalies with 10 or more games played this season, stopped everything fired his way.

The Sharks then took a 2-0 lead less than five minutes into the second period.

With the Canucks on a power play, Henrik Sedin coughed up the puck with an ill-advised pass to no one in particular from the blue line. San Jose defenceman Brad Stuart wasted no time, finding Adam Burish with an outlet pass.

Burish, on a partial breakaway, beat Schneider with a wrist shot from the high slot, the puck squeaking under the left arm of the Canucks goalie. It was a shot Schneider should’ve stopped.

And suddenly the Canucks were trailing 2-0 to a team that had won three of its last 13 games, and the two goal scorers had previously yet to find the back of the net this season.

Then, with the game getting away from the Canucks, Daniel Sedin threw a waist-high centring pass from the corner to the front of the Sharks net that somehow landed in front of twin brother Henrik.

The Canucks captain calmly went to his backhand and slid the puck past Niemi’s left pad.

Funny thing. Enthusiasm began to enter the game after that.

The Canucks evened the score with 25 seconds remaining in the second period.

The five-man unit of Mason Raymond, Chris Higgins, Jannik Hansen, and defencemen Jason Garrison and Dan Hamhuis, caused several turnovers inside the Sharks zone on one shift.

Their tenacity and speed was finally rewarded when Raymond served the puck to Hansen, who wired a shot past a screened Niemi.

For Hansen, whose wife gave birth to twin boys Sunday morning, it was his third goal in his last three games.

KEITH BALLARD LEAVES WITH LOWER BODY INJURY

Canucks defenceman Keith Ballard, who was benched for the two games over the weekend, left the game in the third period with a lower body injury and did not return.

Ballard had one assist in 19 games coming into Tuesday’s game against San Jose.

In the wake of Lindy Ruff being fired, it seems like a good time to talk about one of my pet peeves in the coaching area.  Oh, who am I kidding?  It has nothing to do with Ruff or McLellan or any head coach.  It’s all about the “surprising revelation” that Kevin Kurz shared about Antti Niemi and how he brought his Finnish goaltending coach back with him from Finland. This touches on something I wonder about a lot, and have wondered about for years.  Why is the NHL so slow to recognize the importance of goaltending coaches?  I would add to that, isn’t it a no-brainer that one goaltending coach won’t fit all?

Ignoring how I kick myself for not asking him about this when I had the chance, when I was like talking to him about playing in Finland, ignoring how utterly and completely useless and stupid that makes me feel.  But why would I ask?  It isn’t as if the moment I noticed his play slipping in prior seasons I thought “gee, when was he playing his best?  What was he doing right before that?  Who was he working with?”  Right, I did just that, and forgot about it completely at the worst possible moment.  Kick, kick, ouch.

Where head coaches and assistant coaches can’t be expected to fit every player the same way, a goaltending coach seems like the sort of job that a team could afford to fit to each goalie, or at least the designated starter.  Actually, I have no idea what that would cost or how many teams could afford it, but it still makes sense.

Goaltenders play a peculiar role.  Their individual temperament, preferences, physical strengths and limitations are all magnified by their solitary status in the net.  So why in the world wouldn’t they carry their coach with them wherever they go?  Like the mechanic who works on your race car, you don’t use a different one at each track in each new city, you bring the guy who knows what’s what with you.

NHL teams don’t do that.  A goaltender’s performance goes up and down as he changes teams, for many reasons, but I would guess it’s mostly because of who the goaltending coach is.  It isn’t a matter of whether the team has a good one or not, but a question of how much that coach knows about that player, and how long he has known it.  The learning curve for coach and goalie is a big waste of time if it could be avoided.  Even if they do figure each other out, who’s to say their systems are compatible?  Sure, you might have a guy with the Midas touch like Phoenix has, but you don’t need that.  You just need one guy who knows one guy really well.

No one except the goaltending coach has the job or the understanding to notice little glitches as they arise.  There will only be one other guy on the ice at a practice who is likely to know what a goalie is trying to do.  And the other goalie doesn’t have a lot of incentive to help the guy whose job he wants.  Even if he did want to help, he’s still just one guy, one set of eyes.

There isn’t a whole lot of feedback for a goalie to work with in a regular practice setting.  A goalie’s coach is a lot more important to his individual performance than other coaches are to skaters.  If a skater doesn’t quite get what the Coach or AC is saying, he can ask another skater for advice, ask three or four.  There’s bunches of them out there.  Everyone needs feedback, all the time.  You need coaching in anything you do until you stop doing it.

So why in world wouldn’t NHL teams try to make a goalie’s coach part of the goalie package… apart from the problem of wresting that guy from another team’s payroll?   One might argue that goaltending coaches wouldn’t want to be shipped around like players are but I am sure something could be worked out.  Surely.

Maybe goaltending coaches should have a special status not on the coaching staff, tied more to the goalie than to the team.  By “maybe” I mean “of course no doubt about it the way it’s being done now is completely bassackwards.”  The Sharks had one.  They had Niemi’s personal special long time coach right here, and they let him leave again.  “Bassackwards” simply doesn’t cover it.

Winning breeds winning. The Sharks defense is “winning,” their offense isn’t.  It’s easier to get your brain into a defensive or reactive mode when you lack confidence.  Being aggressive or creative requires confidence.   Confidence or such a lack of it that you feel fear, like a cornered animal.   You don’t want that.  The execution of a cornered animal is about as precise as a cannon with one broken wheel.  Fear, while it might make you go faster or be stronger, won’t help with precision or missed passes.  You know the ones I mean, those passes that leave the stick about two seconds before the brain registers “Wait, he’s not on my team…”

Ray Emery playing well is never depressing for me.  I was in the Emery Comeback Camp from the time I heard he was hoping to return from that hip surgery.  I couldn’t believe he’d make it back, but I was impressed that he wanted to do it. So part of me is always rooting for Emery.  After the game, he was asked about the Sharks’ power play:

That’s a great power play, those guys they put out there are a great group, so if we keep them off the board, it’s a bonus.

Such a nice thing to say, even if it doesn’t seem very true.  

The perfect symbol of failed offense is the Sharks’ power play, so utterly without success that the natural thing for it to do is get worse and start giving up short handed goals.  Like it’s trapped in losing’s gravitational pull, it will keep getting worse as long as it fails to improve.  Nothing is static– is it always growing or shrinking, getting stronger or weaker.  Equilibrium does not exist.  The appearance of such is merely an illusion, like this:

That video reinforces my theory about magnetized pucks.  It could be done.

So confidence is a problem.  Why?  Is it because the Sharks won all those games before they knew what hit them, and were unprepared for adversity?  With each win, did they tumble deeper into a rabbit hole of good press and better bounces?  Why hasn’t that happened to the Blackhawks?  Is it the vitamin D?  Do the Blackhawks take better vitamins?  How better? Are they vegan vitamins?  Do the Blackhawks’ get their vitamin D from magic mushrooms? Magic mushrooms found deep in the rainforest, picked by mute children?

Why hasn’t not losing messed with the Blackhawks?

Friday was so unrelentingly awful for Sharks hockey.  First, the Worcester Sharks lost to the Manchester Monarchs, a team just below them in all kinds of stats and standings.  They didn’t just lose, they lost 7-2.  It was supposed to be a happy day, with Taylor Doherty back in the lineup.  Then, just under an hour after the Sharks lost to Chicago 2-1, the Bulls lost 4-0 in Idaho.  They were down 4-0 before the Sharks finished losing, but it all piles up so it’s hard to keep track of the timing.  Awful awfulness.

To top it off, I can’t even feel justifiably freaked out about the Sharks losing.  They’ve still won as many as they’ve lost.  And so many one goal games, all these good reasons to not panic.  It isn’t fair.  At least allow me the satisfaction of a good and proper freak out.

As an observer, I don’t think losing to the Blackhawks was a bigger problem than losing to anyone else.  I’m glad the Sharks won’t play them again soon.  Coming close to winning didn’t give the Sharks any satisfaction:

“You never do. It’s a win or loss league,” said Logan Couture. “That’s the way this thing goes.” -Mercury News

I would go a step further and say it’s time for the Sharks to think beyond winning and losing.  They need to start shooting for more robust wins, something more resounding than a one goal game.  If the Sharks had won last night’s game 1-0 they would still be in the same spot: mostly solid defense with a woeful shortage of scoring.  Sometimes to hit the target you need to aim high.

Brent Burns was a hot topic of conversation after last night’s game.  What was he thinking on that Saad goal?  Was he was thinking he shouldn’t get in Niemi’s eyes?  Were his legs tired, as Hedican suggested in the post game?  Maybe he didn’t want to screen the shot.  I don’t think Niemi was really ready for him to do that.  Staying out of the goalie’s line of sight is one thing, leaving the shooter completely alone is another.

It was an odd choice.  I know Nabokov would get agitated when his defensemen screened a shot or, worse, redirected it with a failed block.  Niemi isn’t known for that.  I have a vivid memory of Vlasic specifically saying  that Nemo doesn’t yell at them.  In any case, Burns never went through the Nabokov school of defensemen training.  It was just a piss-poor decision.

Burns showed some indecisiveness on the first goal too.  So he failed to prevent both Chicago goals, but blaming Burns for last night is like arguing that if Niemi would  stop more shots, the Sharks would win.  Both arguments are unsound.  The Sharks need to score.  Blaming anyone for allowing one or two goals isn’t going to solve the problem.

Jamie McGinn said something interesting at the end of an Avalanche mailbag this week.  He was asked if he has any pre-game superstitions:

 I think I have a lot of superstitions that I don’t even know about. They kind of just become a part of my routine every day.

Try as we might to understand what makes us tick, the odds are good that we still have no idea what is working on our brain at any given moment.  Denial is the easy one to identify, when we know something’s bugging us but we can’t cope with how much it bugs us so we say it isn’t bugging us and let it wreak unchecked havoc on our subconscious.  But that’s just denial, there are all kinds of things, habits, memories, mental irritants that drain our energy and dull our focus.  Clearing those out isn’t as easy as skating hard at practice or doing endless drills.  Practice drills can help you get in good habits, but if you have some ingrained bad habits that only show up at game time, practice won’t help.

The only way to fix it is to get back in the game, which is exactly what all the Sharks teams will do today.   Worcester Sharks host the Portland Pirates  at 4:00 PST.  SF Bulls play at Idaho, 6:10 PST.  And the Sharks, our dear muddled Sharks, they face Dallas at 5:oo PST.

How should the Sharks feel?  Depressed?  Angry?  Whether it’s because they dno’t do anger well or because anger doesn’t help, I would give up on anger.  Maybe try playing happy.  This is supposed to be fun, right?  So get back on the horse.  Forget about roping, don’t worry about whether everyone is doing it or not.  Just put a foot in the stirrup, swing your leg over and stay on the horse.  Keep it simple.

===========================

I’m curious about why Burish was moved to center, with Desi pushed to the wing.  I know Desi can do that, but it made me wonder if Burish is better in the faceoff circle?

Look that up…

Many have been asking “why would Douglas Murray play instead of Justin Braun or Jason Demers?”  I have asked that, I like how Demers and Braun play together.  The theory is out there that it’s Murray’s penalty-killing skills that keep him in the lineup.  In any case, McLellan wants him there so fans should get used to it.  I think it’s helpful to put it in perspective, compare Murray to defensemen whose continued ice time mystified fans in the past.  Defensemen like Colin White, and before him Niclas Wallin.  To a lesser extent Kent Huskins was also much maligned.  In any case, I believe that Douglas Murray is a significant improvement over all of those players, so I’m not going to fret too much about why Braun or Demers keep sitting so he can stay in the lineup.

Anyway, it was an absolutely terrible sign that the Blackhawks tied the game with a short-handed goal.  What has become of the Sharks’ penalty kill… oh, right, that was the power play’s fault.  I guess that’s the only way a power play can get worse than not scoring: start giving up shorties.

Ugh.

The Blackhawks’ second goal looked a heck of a lot like Kennedy’s goal in St. Louis.  I guess those hard shots have a better chance of getting through than previously thought.

Joe Thornton made a lot of odd decisions in this game.  He kept trying to pass the puck through too many players, and sometimes one guy was too many.  I’m sure Chicago was working hard to cover him but still, throwing the puck to no one, or trying to pass it to someone who was on the other side of a guy intent on stopping it, that just doesn’t make sense.

I was really hoping that Chicago’s record would go to 13-1-3 for symmetry’s sake, and also as a welcome back to number 13, Dan Carcillo.

With 7:32 left in the third period, it didn’t look good.

It wasn’t like Thornton was the only one giving the puck away.  But he’s supposed to be so good at putting the puck where he wants it, it was depressing.

Ray Emery playing well is never depressing for me.  I was in the Emery Comeback Camp from the time I heard he was hoping to return from that hip surgery.  I was wowed that he’d chosen that type of surgery specifically because it might let him play again, while a traditional hip replacement would not. So part of me is always rooting for Razor Ray.

After the game, he was asked about the Sharks’ power play:

“That’s a great power play, those guys they put out there are a great group, so if we keep them off the board, it’s a bonus.”

Aww, that’s nice of you to say, Ray, but right now it doesn’t feel very true.

If there was any truth to jinxes, that should have helped the Sharks, that and everyone saying the Blackhawks can’t be beaten.

Wingels’ stick breaking was classic.  Why not, why wouldn’t a broken stick wreck one of the teams’ best chances?

The Sharks are confusing some folks.  They’re either not as good as they looked or not as bad as they look now… I think they probably got a little dull with all those early wins.  They didn’t  confront as much resistance as they are seeing now.  So is the question of “as good” or “as bad” possibly eating away at them as well?  Despite saying the right things and talking about keeping their calm, is this doubt eating away at their confidence?  Is that what’s wrong with their execution?

Execution can be improved with practice but it is demolished by doubt.

If Sharks fans were hoping for some relief from Sharks affiliates today, it was not coming.  Worcester lost 7-4 to Manchester, and the Bulls lost 4-0 to the Steelheads in Idaho.

On the bright side, the Sharks don’t have to play Chicago again this season.  Give thanks for small mercies?

Gustavsson made 25 saves in his first start of the season and was perfect in the shootout, leading the Red Wings to their third win in four games with a 2-1 victory over the struggling San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.

Slowed by a nagging groin injury early in the season, Gustavsson was unable to be the reliable backup to Jimmy Howard that Detroit needs—until he came up big against the Sharks. Gustavsson helped the Red Wings bounce back after losing 2-1 in Los Angeles the previous night.

“I was real excited to play today,” Gustavsson said. “You play because you want to win. That’s the best feeling you can have. The guys really helped me a lot today. They made it easier for me.”

Damien Brunner scored the lone goal in the shootout to give Gustavsson his first win since March 3, 2012, for Toronto against Montreal. Patrick Eaves tied the game midway through the third period with his first goal in more than two years as the Red Wings showed no signs of fatigue against the more-rested Sharks.

“We had a lot of energy out, especially after playing last night,” Eaves said. “I thought right from the start we didn’t have any lull at all. We really wanted to have a push in this game after last night and go for the two points.”

Logan Couture scored the lone goal for the Sharks, who lost 10 of 12 games in February and have just one regulation win in their past 14 games. Antti Niemi made 33 saves but it wasn’t enough for the win as San Jose’s scoring slump continues with just 10 goals in the past nine games.

“It’s the same story every game,” Couture said. “We have to find a way to score more goals. Personally and as a team we have to find a way to put it into the back of the net. You’re not going to win many games scoring one goal and we’ve found that out lately.”

San Jose was even blanked in the shootout, missing all three attempts against a backup goalie, including a wrist shot by Ryane Clowe that went wide to end the game.

That made Brunner’s forehand goal off Niemi’s glove in the second round the game-winner. Brunner has scored the deciding goal in both shootouts he has participated in as a rookie, also scoring the lone goal against Columbus on Jan. 21.

“Good players are going to miss, so why should I put myself under pressure going out there,” Brunner said. “I know I can score. It about being loose out there.”

This game between the only two teams to make the playoffs every season since the 2004-05 lockout took on added importance as both squads have struggled to find consistency in this lockout-shortened season. Both clubs are in a logjam in the middle of the Western Conference, with the Red Wings tied for fourth and the Sharks one point back in a five-way tie for sixth place.

The teams traded goals early in the third period, with Couture putting the Sharks on top when he scored the first goal less than 5 minutes into the period. The goal came after an odd bounce off the backboards on a dump-in by Douglas Murray. Couture and Joe Thornton did a good job at the blue line to keep the puck in the offensive zone and Thornton then found Couture for a one-timer from the circle to make it 1-0.

Niemi made a strong stop on a rebound from Daniel Cleary to preserve the lead but had no chance when Eaves tipped Niklas Kronwall’s point shot past him for the tying goal less than 2 minutes after San Jose scored to end a personal 46-game goal drought.

Gustavsson preserved the tie when he made a tough stop on Thornton from in close with less than 7 minutes to play, and the game remained that way for the rest of regulation.

The Sharks had the better of the chances in the first two periods, with Couture generating a few scoring chances in the first period and Clowe missing wide after struggling to control the puck on a breakaway.

San Jose then failed to even get a shot on a pair of 2-on-1s in the second period as Patrick Marleau and Thornton each attempted passes that failed to connect instead of shooting the puck.

“We haven’t exactly been lighting it up,” coach Todd McLellan said. “They’re smart people. They can watch the game. They know they have to shoot the puck to score. It’s disappointing. When we have those opportunities, we have to make good on them. Other teams in the league are. We have to.”

NOTES: The Red Wings failed on two power-play chances and are 0 for 33 on the road this season. … Clowe returned from a two-game suspension but remains without a goal in 17 games.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Michal Handzus made the first shot and two Sharks missed before Marleau shook Semyon Varlamov, sneaking the puck between the goaltender’s legs for the winning score. Niemi turned aside 25 of 27 shots before the shootout and tossed aside John Mitchell’s attempt to send it to a fifth round.

Logan Couture and TJ Galiardi also scored goals for the Sharks, who snapped a two-game losing streak. San Jose has won eight straight at home, including three in overtime.

San Jose had been 1-6-3 in its last 10 games since setting a franchise record by winning its first seven of the season. The Sharks’ 41 shots on goal were the most since a 4-0 win over the Avalanche exactly a month earlier.

Chuck Kobasew scored in the first period and Mark Olver scored the tying goal for the Avalanche with 3:16 remaining in regulation. Colorado fell to 0-1-2 on its three-game road trip.

San Jose overcame the loss of its key contributors, while Colorado struggled to put pressure on net.

Avalanche center Matt Duchene, leading the team with 11 assists and 17 points, sat out with a lower-body injury. Sharks forward Ryane Clowe served the second and final game of his suspension by the NHL for instigating a fight late in Friday’s 2-1 loss at Chicago, and San Jose placed defenseman Brent Burns on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.

The Sharks looked at home from the start, and Colorado never looked cozy — as usual. The Avalanche have lost eight straight in San Jose since winning Game 1 of their first-round playoff series in 2010.

Just 25 seconds into the game, Joe Thornton stole the puck from the back boards and quickly passed to Couture collapsing on goal. Couture flicked the puck past Varlamov, falling to the ice as his seventh goal of the season — and first in nine games — sailed into the back of the net.

It was the fastest Sharks score this season, topping Thornton’s goal 43 seconds into a 4-1 win over Vancouver on Jan. 27. Protecting the lead only lasted a little longer.

Sharks Jose couldn’t clear the puck, and Kobasew corralled the rebound for the tying score with about 8 minutes remaining in the first period. It was Kobasew’s second goal of the season.

Another fast start following the break put the Sharks in control again.

James Sheppard flicked a blind, backhand pass to Galiardi just outside the far-post crease. Galiardi pushed the puck into the net for his first goal of the season, giving San Jose a 2-1 lead just 2:55 into the second period.

Michal Handuz missed a chance for a short-handed goal that would’ve put the game away when a friendly bounce off the side boards gave him a breakaway, which Varlamov blocked with his body as a defender swooped in from behind. Colorado capitalized just after its power play ended.

Jan Hejda’s slap shot deflected off the back board and into a crowd near the crease. Olver flipped the puck just over Niemi’s leg pads for the tying score with 3:16 remaining in regulation.

A lack of offense has been a big part of San Jose’s slide.

The Sharks finished 0 for 5 on the power play, including a chance between the third period and overtime when forward Sharks Jamie McGinn was called for a high stick. In the last 10 games, they are 2 for 46 on the power play.

The Sharks have been held to two goals or fewer in 10 of their 11 games this month that didn’t go to a shootout.

NOTES: Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog returned to the arena one month to the day he got a concussion on a huge hit from Sharks defenseman Brad Stuart. Landeskog had been out of the lineup until the previous two games. … The Sharks recalled D Matt Irwin from Worcester of the American Hockey League. … Colorado returns home to face Calgary on Thursday, while San Jose hosts Detroit on Thursday.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Stars goaltender Cristopher Nilstorp stopped 31 of 32 shots to secure his first NHL win, and give the Stars a much needed victory with No. 1 goaltender Kari Lehtonen still out with a groin injury.

“Of course it’s a great feeling to get your first win. The guys did an amazing job in front of me and helped me out today so I’m really thankful for that. It’s a great feeling,” said Nilstorp. “It means a lot for me. You get your first win, you get excited for next game now. My confidence builds up because of this.”

Benn had a goal, an assist and a fight for the Gordie Howe Hat Trick and the power play scored twice for the Stars, who improved to 9-8-1 on the season.

“Whenever you can get a chance to get points against your own division, it’s big,” said Benn. “We were fortunate enough to get two points tonight, and I thought our team played pretty good.”

Benn gave the Stars a lift midway through the game, dropping the gloves with Sharks captain Joe Thornton.

“I was trying to get myself going a little bit, and kind of get the barn rocking,” said Benn. “I think it wakes you up and gets your adrenaline going I felt good doing it. It was pretty exciting and I was just trying to get the guys going a little bit.”

Added Stars coach Glen Gulutzan: “Well, it certainly got us all off our seats. He has a passion to win and it sparked us for sure. There’s our young bull there, going out there and getting things going. I thought it gave our team some energy. We need to do whatever we can to manufacture stuff and I thought Bennie picked a good opportunity and certainly a good opponent to get us going.”

About ten minutes later, Benn set up the first goal of the game. He centered the puck to Jaromir Jagr, who tipped the puck past Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi with 57.3 seconds left in the second.

Michael Ryder scored on the power play 30 seconds into the third period to give Dallas a 2-0 lead. The Stars, who had been struggling on a power play recently, ended up 2-6 with the man advantage in this game.

“After we practiced it and worked on it, I thought our retrievals were good. I thought the guys battled for the puck,” said Gulutzan.” Just when you’ve got Bennie and Jags out there on that one power play, they make something out of nothing. I thought that was a real big one and Ryds, you can’t give him that shot in the slot because if he gets that time he’ll bury it. I thought our big guys made big plays.”

San Jose cut the lead to 2-1 with a five-on-three power play goal by Patrick Marleau early in the third, but the Stars held them off the rest of the way.

Nilstorp came up with a huge save on Thornton, who drove the net with just under eleven minutes left in the third.

“I was lucky there,” said Nilstorp, who ended up under Thornton at the side of the net after he made the save.

The Sharks scored on the ensuing scramble, but the goal was waved off and Thornton was penalized for goaltender interference.

“It felt like I was getting hooked to be honest with you. I’m going one way, and he’s going the same way. I really couldn’t do anything,” said Thornton. “And then the puck’s right there, [Nilstorp] is out of the crease, I’m out of the crease and I just thought it was going to be a good goal but apparently not.”

Benn scored on a snap shot from the slot with 2:11 remaining to make it a 3-1 game. The goal rounded out Benn’s Gordie Howe Hat Trick.

“The biggest thing was that our goalie played great tonight and got his first NHL win,” Benn said, “and our team got two big points against a division rival.”

The Sharks fell to 1-6-3 over their last ten games. They have scored seven goals over the last seven games.

“More of the same, pretty good effort but like I said after the game in Chicago, you can’t take consolation in that,” said Sharks coach Todd McLellan. “You have to put points in the bank and we’re not doing it right now. You can’t win games scoring one goal. Power play scored a goal. It’s the same thing. It’s over and over. We’ve got to find ways to fix it.”

Stars Notes: Rome, Larsen injured

*Stars defenseman Aaron Rome left the game in the first period after taking shot off his foot. His status is not known.

*Stars defenseman Philip Larsen left the game late in the third period after he and Sharks forward Tommy Wingels both went head first into the boards. Larsen, who suffered a cut on his forehead, is being evaluated.

*Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen (groin) skated in Frisco on Saturday. He is still listed as day-to-day, and he will travel with the team to Nashville and Columbus.

*Stars defenseman Trevor Daley (neck) took part in Saturday morning’s skate. He could play in Monday’s game at Nashville.

*Saturday’s attendance was 18, 584, the second sellout of the season.

Blackhawks rookie Brandon Saad scored a short-handed goal early in the third period to snap a 1-all tie. Chicago (14-0-3) won its fourth straight game to break a mark set by the 2006-07 Anaheim Ducks, who earned points in their first 16 games.

The Blackhawks equaled that run Tuesday with a shootout win over Vancouver.

Saad closed in on the left wing one-on-one with San Jose defenseman Brent Burns. After a quick fake, Saad fired a shot from the circle that beat San Jose’s Antti Niemi just under the glove 2:24 into the period.

Viktor Stalberg also scored for league-leading Chicago, which has captured a total of 31 of 34 possible points.

Blackhawks goalie Ray Emery made 26 saves to win his fourth straight start and improve to 7-0. Chicago killed all four San Jose power plays, all of which occurred in a span of under 14 minutes late in the second and early in the third periods.

Patrick Marleau scored for the Sharks, getting only his second goal in 11 games after getting nine in San Jose’s first five games.

Both Emery and Niemi were sharp throughout most of the game. But a misplay by Niemi led to Stalberg’s goal at 16:40 of the second period, and he seemed fooled on Saad’s score. Niemi stopped 32 shots.

Niemi, who was the goalie when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2010, also let in a couple of soft goals in a 4-1 loss to the Blackhawks at the United Center last Friday.

Chicago and San Jose faced each other for the third time in 17 days. The Blackhawks defeated the Sharks 4-1 last Friday and 5-3 in San Jose on Feb. 5.

The Blackhawks had a full lineup for the first time since their season opener at Los Angeles.

Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook, forward Daniel Carcillo and goalie Corey Crawford returned from injuries. Seabrook missed Tuesday’s game with a lower-body injury and Carcillo sat out 15 games since suffering a knee injury in the season opener.

Crawford, who sat out three games with a upper-body injury, backed up Emery.

Chicago forward Marian Hossa was back after being hit in the back of the head by Vancouver forward Jannik Hansen on Tuesday and leaving early in the third period. Hansen was suspended for one game by the NHL.

Marleau broke the scoreless tie late in the first period. He connected with 14.2 seconds left to give San Jose a 1-0 lead.

Emery made a point-blank pad save on Joe Pavelski’s tip of Joe Thornton’s shot from left wing, then Marleau pounced on the rebound in the slot. Emery got his left pad on Marleau’s attempt, but the puck barely slid over the goal line.

Stalberg tied it at 1 at 16:40 of the second on a play from the left corner. From sharp angle and with traffic in front, Stalberg whipped the puck toward Niemi. It struck the inside of Niemi’s left pad near the knee and deflected in.

Saad’s goal 2:24 into the third, and with 3 seconds remaining on a penalty to Seabrook, made it 2-1.

Then Chicago’s penalty killing and alert work by Emery helped preserve the lead.

Niemi was pulled for an extra attacker with 1:10 left, but Chicago kept the Sharks off the puck and off balance. Hossa missed an empty net in the final seconds.

NOTES: The 2006-07 Anaheim Ducks got off to a 12-0-4 start that season and went on to win the Stanley Cup. … The Sharks played the fifth game of a season-high six-game road trip and are 1-3-1. Despite the compressed 48-game NHL schedule, San Jose played only one game — at St. Louis on Tuesday — since facing the Blackhawks in Chicago a week ago. … San Jose C Scott Gomez and D Justin Braun were healthy scratches. … Former Blackhawks player and current broadcaster Eddie Olczyk, a Chicago-area native, was honored in a pregame ceremony for being inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

The last time the Hawks met the Sharks, Jonathan Toews and Joe Thornton squared off. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)

By Allan Muir

Sharks at Blackhawks: 7:30 CST, NHL Network (US), CSN Chicago, CSN California

The set-up

The Blackhawks can lay claim to the best start in NHL history against the Sharks tonight. Their shootout win over Vancouver on Wednesday gave Chicago a point in 16 straight games and a share of the current mark set in 2006-07 by the Anaheim Ducks. They’ll face a feckless San Jose side that finally snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 2-1 win over St. Louis on Tuesday. After going unbeaten in their first seven games, the Sharks have seen their offense go cold, but they’re coming off two days of practice time that allowed them to work on the power play and at generating chances five-on-five.

This will be the third meeting between these two teams in 18 days, so familiarity may breed contempt. It’ll be worth watching to see if any hostilities carry over from their last get-together, when captains Jonathan Toews and Joe Thornton dropped the gloves.

Keys to the game

• Blackhawks: Get a lead and stomp down hard on the gas pedal. They allowed the Canucks to dictate the pace early on Wednesday, then coasted through the third period after a thoroughly dominant second, ultimately coughing up a point with sloppy play and lazy penalties as the game wore down. They can’t afford to let the Sharks circle and wait for them to let up.

• Sharks: Commit to ugly, goalmouth hockey. There’s no offensive flow on this team right now. They’ve scored two goals or less in regulation in nine of their last 10 games and the power play that propelled their hot start has just two goals to show for its last 42 chances. So forget pretty and fight off the instinct to make that one last pass. Get as many pucks on net as possible and follow them to the crease with grim purpose.

• Probable starting goalies: Ray Emery (6-0-0, 2.27 GAA, .925 save pct.) vs. Antti Niemi (7-2-3, 1.86, .933)

Who’s hot

• Duncan Keith: He’s back in Norris Trophy form, chewing up big minutes, providing rock-solid defense and chipping in with five points in his last three games.

• Patrick Sharp: He’s been noticeably more involved in the past two games, and has six points over his last six.

• Patrick Kane: He’s been the model of consistency, scoring in 14 of 16 games, with multiple points in seven contests.

• Jonathan Toews: Hope someone’s taking notes because Toews is lecturing the rest of the league on how to be a captain. His plus-10 rating is a fair indication of his commitment to two-way play.

• Chicago’s penalty kill: Currently humming along at an 87.9 rate of proficiency, third-best in the league, its aggressive nature startled the Canucks early, leading to a pair of Chicago breakaway chances on the same kill.

• Antti Niemi: He’s the only one who has been keeping victory within reach for the Sharks, allowing more than one goal just twice in his last six starts.

Who’s cold

• Patrick Marleau: Everyone’s choice for MVP after the season’s first two weeks has seen his mitts turns to stone. That he has just two points in his last nine games isn’t simply bad puck luck. He needs to compete.

• Joe Thornton: See above. Nine games, two points. Not showing enough battle to be effective. He won the fight against Toews, but took three or four crosschecks after being boarded before he was finally willing to engage. It’s too much to ask for his blood to boil at a lower temperature, right?

• The rest of the Sharks offense: No need to embarrass them all by name, is there?

• Viktor Stalberg: Absent from the Hawks’ score sheet over his last five games and he rarely seems to be involved in the play.

Reality check

Everyone in San Jose’s room needs to look around and then ask himself if he wants to continue playing with this group, because another lackluster effort moves the likelihood of a shake-up trade close to 100 percent. So win with these guys, for these guys, or get ready for a change.

Player to watch

Marian Hossa practiced Thursday after being knocked for a loop by Jannik Hansen’s forearm shiver on Wednesday. No telling if he’s 100 percent, but the fact that he was involved is a good sign. He was Chicago’s best player — his second goal was a superlative individual effort — before being knocked out of the game and he seems to be shaking out of an offensive mini-slump.

Prediction

The Hawks have been a marvel to this point, a machine of efficiency. But, as coach Todd MacLellan told the San Jose Mercury News, “Somebody’s got to stop them eventually. We’re the next team on the list so let’s do it.” I think Niemi steals this one. I’m calling it 2-1 for the Sharks.