Meier propels San Jose
Timo Meier had a goal and an assist to keep up his strong start, and the San Jose Sharks beat the Minnesota Wild 4-1 in St. Paul on Tuesday night.
Mario Ferraro, Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl also scored for San Jose. Logan Couture and Rudolfs Balcers had two assists, and James Reimer made 26 saves as the Sharks won for the second time in six games.
Joel Eriksson Ek scored for Minnesota, which lost for the second time in seven games. Cam Talbot stopped 17 shots.
Meier, who returned Saturday after missing five games while in COVID-19 protocol, has six goals and eight assists to tie Couture with a team-high 14 points. Only two players in Sharks history have more points through their first 10 games: Owen Nolan 17 in 1999-00 and Joe Thornton 16 in 2005-06 and 15 in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
“The start is not bad, but I know I can take another step and make some better, more consistent plays and even take the next step. I want to be the best player I can be for the team,” said Meier, who was challenged by his coaches after last season to be more detailed throughout his game.
He got the second assist on Ferraro’s early goal and scored on a nice individual effort with 42.2 seconds left in the opening period for a 2-0 lead. Meier carried the puck into the right circle, turned outside and sent a pass back to Marc-Edouard Vlasic at the point. Vlasic’s shot hit traffic in front but deflected to Meier who was charging in from the right side for an easy goal from just below the dot.
Playing the fourth game of a five-game road trip, San Jose was looking to bounce back after a 6-2 drubbing Saturday in Colorado.
Coyotes 3, Blues 2: Barrett Hayton scored twice and Scott Wedgewood made 33 saves for visiting Arizona. Kyle Capobianco scored his first goal of the season for Arizona, which snapped a three-game losing streak.
Panthers 6, Islanders 1: Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 27 shots and Florida overcame the loss of center Aleksander Barkov to remain unbeaten at home with a rout of New York.
Sabres 2, Penguins 1: Dustin Tokarski stopped a career-high 45 shots as Buffalo beat host Pittsburgh. His previous high was 44 saves on April 1. He turned aside 19 shots in the third period, when the Penguins outshot the Sabres 20-3.
Maple Leafs 3, Predators 0: Jack Campbell made 24 saves to register his third shutout of the season as Toronto defeated Nashville at home. Auston Matthews, David Kampf and Mitch Marner scored for Toronto, which has won nine of its last 10 games.
Rangers 3, Canadiens 2: Kris Kreider had another goal, Kaapo Kakko scored for the second straight game, and host New York beat Montreal for its fourth straight win. Julien Gauthier also scored and Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves.
Flyers 2, Flames 1: Cam Atkinson scored 45 seconds into overtime and Carter Hart made 33 saves to lift the Philadelphia to a home win. Oliver Kylington scored for the Flames, who have lost six of eight.
Jets 5, Oilers 2: Nikolaj Ehlers, PierreLuc Dubois and Mark Scheifele scored in the second period, and host Winnipeg beat Edmonton. Adam Lowry and Kyle Connor also scored for the Jets.
Stars 5, Red Wings 2: Jason Robertson scored twice and Jake Oettinger made 28 saves in his season debut as Dallas beat Detroit at home.