Meier’s strikes help San Jose top New Jersey
Timo Meier scored twice and Martin Jones made 22 saves as the Sharks beat New Jersey 5-2 at SAP Center on Monday night.
Joe Pavelski scored his team-leading 20th as San Jose won for the fourth time in five games. The Devils lost for the eighth time in nine games.
Leading by two goals and confidently holding the lead throughout the third period, the Sharks put the game out of reach with Tomas Hertl’s power-play strike at 14:23. His ninth goal of the season came nine seconds after the Devils took a delay-of-game minor.
Unlike a number of earlyseason games, the Sharks were able to extend early leads to take a 4-2 lead after two periods.
San Jose struck twice within three minutes late in the first period after Jones put the Sharks in a 1-0 hole by allowing a soft goal at 12:05.
A late lineup addition, fourth-line wing Drew Stafford, led a 3-on-3 New Jersey rush and, from the right boards at the top of the right circle, directed a low, harmless-looking shot that somehow sneaked between Jones’ left skate and the near post before trickling over the goal line.
Already off to a slow start and without a shot on goal until 10:35 of the first — by which time the Devils had seven — the Sharks came alive late in the period.
Meier scored the first of near duplicate goals with leading a 2-on-1 and lasering a low wrist shot from the right circle at 15:51 past goalie Keith Kinkaid, who probably would have liked to challenge more and establish a better angle.
Then, at 18:03, Pavelski capped a strong cycle by San Jose by tapping a rebound past Kinkaid for his 20th goal for a 2-1 lead. It marked the 10th time in Pavelski’s career he has reached the 20-goal milestone.
The Sharks extended their lead at 7:19 of the second when rookie defenseman Radim Simek scored the first goal of his career in his fifth NHL game. Stafford missed in a block attempt as Simek’s shot from the left point beat a screened Kinkaid with crisscrossing Sharks Barclay Goodrow and Melker Karlsson obstructing the goalie’s view.
New Jersey responded 1:40 later, however, as defenseman Andy Greene crashed the net to punch home his first of the season at 8:59. San Jose’s Brenden Dillon and Logan Couture got caught watching the puck, which was centered from behind the net by Kyle Palmieri after Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic did a nice job to angle the Devils’ forward away from the goal.
Meier capped the scoring for the first 40 minutes with another pinpoint wrist shot, this time from the left circle just inside the far post at 14:52. His 16th goal of the season gave the Sharks a 4-2 lead. Ross McKeon is a freelance writer. Twitter: @rossmckeon