New Jersey @ San Jose Sharks 5-2 - 01/19

Jordin Tootoo, Steve Bernier, Mike Cammalleri, Travis Zajac and Jacob Josefson each scored to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 5-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Monday. Devils goaltender Cory Schneider, who missed the final two periods of a 5-1 loss to the Anaheim Sucks on Friday after being hit in the helmet by a shot, made 34 saves. Joe Pavelski and Matt Nieto scored for the Sharks (24-17-6), who lost their second straight game at home. Alex Stalock made 29 saves in his first start since Jan. 6 against the Minnesota Wild.
The Devils (17-22-8) won two of three games in California with victories against the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose to go with a 5-1 loss to the Anaheim Sucks on Friday. New Jersey doesn't play again until Jan. 28 when it will host the Toronto Maple Leafs at Prudential Center. The Sharks lost defenseman Justin Braun and forward Tommy Wingels to upper-body injuries during the game. Coach Todd McLellan said Braun and Wingels will miss the game Wednesday against the Los Angeles Kings and will be "out for a while." Braun was injured early in the second period blocking a shot; Wingels was slashed midway through the third period. The Sharks have gone 1-1-1 in the first three games of their seven-game home stand, and McLellan said he's worried about more than the mediocre record. Cammalleri put New Jersey ahead 3-2 with a power-play goal at 13:32 of the second period. With Sharks defenseman Brent Burns in the penalty box for the third time in the game after delivering an illegal check to Tim Sestito, Cammalleri sent a slap shot through traffic and past Stalock. Schneider made a handful of crucial saves to kill a penalty late in the second period. Midway through the third, Schneider and the Devils killed back-to-back penalties. The Sharks went 0-for-4 on the power play. Zajac increased New Jersey's lead to 4-2 with a goal at 11:10 of the third, scoring on a rebound from short range. Josefson scored a shorthanded goal at 14:32 on a 2-on-1 rush to make it 5-2. Josefson played his first game since Dec. 27. The Devils were outshot 40-15 in their lost to Anaheim, but they outshot San Jose 17-8 in the first period, building a 2-1 lead, and had 34 shots overall to 36 for the Sharks. The Sharks struck first at 3:59 of the first period when Pavelski scored his team-leading 23rd goal of the season. Pavelski forced Gomez into a turnover along the boards in New Jersey's end, got the puck back from Joe Thornton in the right circle and beat Schneider with a wrist shot inside the right post. That was it for what the Sharks hoped would be a fast start, two days after they dug a 2-0 first-period hole and lost 4-3 in overtime to the Calgary Flames on Saturday. New Jersey answered with goals by Tootoo and Bernier. The Devils pulled even at 15:29 on Tootoo's fourth goal of the season. Stalock stopped rapid-fire shots by Sestito and Tootoo, but the latter put his own rebound over the goal line. Thirty-five seconds later, Bernier scored to give New Jersey a 2-1 lead. Gomez stole the puck from Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon just to the left of the crease and fed Bernier in the low slot. Stalock stopped Bernier's first shot but couldn't control the puck, and Bernier buried the rebound. The Sharks made it 2-2 four minutes into the second period on Nieto's fourth goal of the season. Nieto took a cross-ice pass from linemate Tyler Kennedy and beat Schneider with a shot from the right circle. Tomas Hertl and Kennedy got the assists. The Devils are 12 points behind the Boston Bruins, who own the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, but they head into their break with renewed confidence.

Sharks Quotes

Todd McLellan: "I'm concerned about the life we bring to the rink and to the games. I don't know if you want to call it passion, but the internal drive per person is not where it needs to be right now. And these are important games. We talked about the importance of this stretch of games at home. It's disappointing to see the lack of drive right now."
Joe Pavelski: "The first five minutes was the start we want. It never really felt dangerous on their part, but they got a couple goals around the net that we can't let happen. We didn't have enough pressure after that. The momentum has to keep continuing. We have to understand we're in a dogfight every night. Where we're at we want to start trending upward and we're not. We're just staying level. We need these games."
Matt Nieto: "Once we score we need to keep the momentum in our favor and have that killer instinct," Nieto said. "Every game counts. We have to find ways to win in our building. We can only go up from here. We have to come together as a team and get it done."