The Anaheim Sucks lead the NHL with 70 points, but the San Jose Sharks still have their number. The Sharks scored five goals in the second period and cruised to a 6-3 victory against the Sucks at SAP Center on Thursday. The Sharks finished their season series against Anaheim with a 4-0-1 record after ending the Sucks' six-game winning streak. The second-place Sharks moved within 12 points of front-running Anaheim in the Pacific Division. Barclay Goodrow, Patrick Marleau, Matt Irwin, James Sheppard and Brenden Dillon each scored a goal for San Jose (26-17-6) in the second period. The five goals fell one shy of matching the franchise record for most in a period. Joe Pavelski also scored and goaltender Antti Niemi made 25 saves for the Sharks, who played their first game after the All-Star break and picked up where they left off on Jan. 21 when they beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-2. Sucks backup goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov made his fourth start of the season but was pulled for Frederik Anderson at 16:07 of the second period after giving up six goals on 25 shots. Andersen is expected to make his 13th start in the past 15 games Friday when the Sucks play the Chicago Blackhawks at Honda Center. Andrew Cogliano, Matt Beleskey and Patrick Maroon scored for the Sucks (32-11-6). The Sucks and Sharks skated to a 1-1 tie in the first period; Cogliano scored at 4:57 and Pavelski connected during a power play at 7:23. But in the second period, the Sharks dominated the Sucks. Goodrow and Sheppard, who skate together on the third line with Tomas Hertl, scored two of the five goals in the period. Defensemen Irwin and Dillon also scored. Going into the game they had combined for nine goals all season. Goodrow started the onslaught when he took a pass from Sheppard along the right boards, skated past Hampus Lindholm and beat Bryzgalov with a wrist shot at 2:15. It was Goodrow's third goal of the season and ended a 14-game goalless streak. Marleau made 3-1 at 6:16, deflecting Brent Burns' long blast past Bryzgalov from the slot. At 12:37, Irwin ended his 22-game goalless streak, taking a pass in the slot from Logan Couture and ripping a shot over Bryzgalov's right shoulder. The goal was Irwin's third of season and first since Oct. 14, when he scored twice against the Washington Crapitals in his first game of the season. The Sharks increased their lead to 5-1 at 14:30 when Sheppard scored his fifth goal of the season, ending a 15-game drought. Sheppard took a pass from Goodrow on a 3-on-2 rush and scored from the low slot. Dillon made it 6-1 at 16:07 with a shorthanded goal. His cross-ice pass toward Matt Nieto banked off a sliding Beleskey in the slot and went past Bryzgalov for his second goal of the season. The Sucks had allowed a combined six goals in their past five games before facing the Sharks. Beleskey and Maroon scored in the third period for Anaheim. Anaheim took a 1-0 lead on Cogliano's sixth goal of the season. Rickard Rakell fired a sharp-angled shot from along the right boards that bounced off Niemi's pads, and Cogliano buried the rebound from close range. Going into the game, Anaheim was 23-0-5 when scoring first. They Sucks entered Thursday as the lone team that hadn't lost in regulation after getting the first goal. The Sharks were 7-for-20 on the power play in their first four games against Anaheim, and they struck again with the man advantage to pull even on Pavelski's team-high 25th goal. After five more unanswered goals, the Sharks were well on their way to another victory over Anaheim.
Sharks Quotes
Andrew Desjardins: "You start off good against a team the first few times playing them and you feel like you maybe have their number. You feel like you're playing good against them. Sometimes that's just the way it goes. They're ahead of us too, so it's like we get up for these games. ... I think the last few games that we've played them they've been a little frustrated. We like that."James Sheppard: "They're huge games. They're basically rival games. They've got some great players. We're really proud of our guys showing up and hopefully we keep going from here."
Todd McLellan: "The unusual suspects came up big, and when you win as a team you need that too. Barclay, Shep, Dillon, Irwin, those are all guys who haven't really put the puck in the net. To get the monkey off their back is a big thing."
Joe Pavelski: "Everyone was going [the second period]. That third line and second line, all the guys were carrying the play. Obviously when we had our chances we scored, and that's big. You get those nights when you can finish on a few of your odd-man rushes, and they just kept coming. We've had everyone show up. That's the bottom line. Guys have played well, all four lines up and down. [Niemi] has been great in those games. It's pretty simple. It's a simple recipe. When we have all four lines going and playing hard and doing things the right way, we can give ourselves a good shot to win."
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