Backup goaltender Keith Kinkaid bounced back from a nightmare game, and so did the New Jersey Devils. Kinkaid made 30 saves for his second career shutout in a 3-0 victory against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center. Kinkaid started his second straight game in place of Cory Schneider, who is out with a sprained right knee. Kinkaid allowed six goals on 30 shots in a 6-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday at the Prudential Center. After that loss, Schneider told Kinkaid to relax and just be himself on the ice.
Travis Zajac scored two third-period goals, including an empty-netter with 52.1 seconds left. Devante Smith-Pelly had a goal in the second period for the Devils, who had lost five of their previous six games. Kinkaid's first career shutout came on Feb. 14, when he made 28 saves in a 1-0 victory against the Los Angeles Kings.
Martin Jones made 12 saves for the Sharks, who remained four points behind the first-place Kings and three behind the Anaheim Ducks in the Pacific Division. They host the Washington Capitals on Saturday. The Sharks were coming off back-to-back road victories and played for the fourth time in six nights. The Devils are five points behind the Penguins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. They play at Los Angeles on Saturday.
Smith-Pelly gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 3:14 of the second period by scoring his ninth goal of the season and third in four games since coming to New Jersey from the Montreal Canadiens at the NHL Trade Deadline on Feb. 29. He took a pass from Stephen Gionta and fired a wrist shot from near the top of the left circle that went through traffic and caught the upper right corner. The assists went to Gionta and Mike Sislo, who was called up Tuesday from Albany of the American Hockey League. It was his second career NHL point. Smith-Pelly's goal came on New Jersey's 10th shot of the game and third and final shot of the second period, when San Jose outshot the Devils 16-3. But the Sharks couldn't beat Kinkaid, who made a glove save on Patrick Marleau's wrist shot from close range on a 2-on-1 rush with eight minutes left in the period.
The Devils killed two penalties in the second period, the first one after Kinkaid shot the puck over the glass for a delay of game call. Logan Couture had a shot from in front of the crease, but Kinkaid made the save.
The Sharks had five shots on their other power play. Their best scoring chance came on Joe Pavelski's shot from the slot, but Kinkaid made a glove save. The Sharks defeated the Devils 2-1 in a shootout on Oct. 16 at Prudential Center.
Zajac made it 2-0 at 1:35 of the third period with his 11th goal of the season. After Dainius Zubrus and Paul Martin got tangled up behind the net and fell to the ice, Zajac got the puck left of the crease. He pounded a shot that Jones blocked but couldn't control. Brent Burns tried to clear the puck out of the crease, but it bounced off the left post and spun over the goal line before Jones could cover it.
A video review determined that the puck completely crossed the goal line.
The Sharks nearly broke through with 15:25 left when Zubrus ripped a wrist shot from the slot, but the puck bounced hit Kinkaid's mask and deflected away from the net. Burns missed an open net during a power play with 5:30 remaining.
Sharks Bites
Peter DeBoer: "We didn't execute. We had chances to score tonight. It was little bit of a trap, four in six nights. But you have to give them credit. They are a hungry team, they were rested and they were sitting and waiting. They were desperate, they played a hard, heavy game. We needed a way to find one to get some momentum."Joe Pavelski: "We had a few good pushes, but we gave up too many chances and Jones made some great saves. We were looking for that one goal on a power play or 5-on-5 where it was going to crack their end. We could have had a little more jump and played a little bit harder. We had some looks and we had some chances. They are a tight team they don't give you a whole lot. It was like that when we played them in Jersey."
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