The three-game sweep from Wednesday night starts in San Jose, where the Sharks used two third period goals from Joe Pavelski to double-up the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-2.
“It’s great,” Pavelski said. “It’s what we expect. Obviously, now that’s the template we need to copy and play with. We have to go from there. It’s a good win tonight. We can’t get ahead of ourselves. We need to come out with that energy again.”
It was the first home win for the Sharks since late November.
Pavelski’s second was a power play goal with less than a minute to go in regulation and Joe Thornton and Brent Burns added power play goals of their own.
“We’ve been playing good, we just haven’t been winning at home,” Thornton said. “It’s nice to finally see all this hard work paying off at home.”
Logan Couture returned to the lineup after missing seven games due to surgery.
“Probably didn’t look that good,” Couture said. “On the power play, felt comfortable. Had the puck. It was lucky that we got some power plays. I was able to kind of establish that game where I was able to feel the puck and get some chances and build my confidence that way. I didn’t really generate much 5-on-5. Hopefully, moving forward I can work on that.”
Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier scored for the Flyers and Steve Mason stopped 29 shots in the loss.
“I thought we played a pretty good game,” Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas said. “Unfortunately, we got scored on at the end, but we can clean that up.”
Martin Jones got the win on 17 saves.
In Ottawa, Mike Cammalleri picked up two goals and the New Jersey Devils beat the Senators, 3-0.
“I thought we played real well,” Senators coach Dave Cameron said. “Give Jersey credit. We made a couple of errors in the first period and they buried both of them.
“I thought after that we did a lot of good things, got a lot of good looks, got a lot of good chances. Their goalie played really well today.”
Lee Stempniak added an empty-netter to seal the win.
“We’d like to get on a roll here. It was big for us to win two in a row. Three would feel a lot better than two,” Cammalleri said.
Cory Schneider made 36 saves for his third shutout of the year.
“That was one of our keys coming into tonight was to get back-to-back [wins],” Schneider said. “To come on the road against a good team, a very good team, it feels good.”
Andrew Hammond made 18 saves in the loss for the Senators.
In Pittsburgh, the Toronto Maple Leafs got 39 saves from Jonathan Bernier in a 3-2 win over the Penguins in a shootout.
“We found a way to win,” Bernier said. “At the end of the day, we found a way to win and that’s the bottom line … I felt pretty good. I had an off night last night, but if I look at my past six or seven games, I feel pretty good. I’ve got lots of wins and I’m making the saves at the right time. So, no confidence issue right now.”
Dion Phaneuf and Chris Kunitz exchanged goals in the first period.
“I tried to get it past [Grabner], and that’s our job, is to get it past the guy up top,” Phaneuf said. “And our forwards down low … there’s a great screen and it doesn’t go in unless they’re there. So, credit goes to them. It’s my job to get it past the top guy, but that’s a big-time screen and that’s why the goal goes in.”
For the Pens, it was their seventh loss in the last nine games.
“There were a few [defensive lapses],” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “We talked on the bench about having more defensive awareness. Even though we’re on the power play, we can’t be so high-risk that we’re giving up those types of chances.”
That conversation seems more appropriate to an inexperienced club and not the Penguins.
Jake Gardiner and Sidney Crosby scored in the second period.
“We had our chances. They certainly did too,” Crosby said. “It’s a tied hockey game and you know the next one’s big. We had some power plays, one there late. We definitely have to find a way to get that go-ahead goal.”
PA Parenteau beat Pens’ goalie Matthew Murray in the shootout for the game-winner.
Murray saved the loser’s point for the Pens when he stopped several breakaways by the Leafs over the second and third periods.
“I’m the kind of guy that I always expect myself to make the save,” Murray said. “That’s just the personality I have and the kind of mentality I try to bring. So, I wouldn’t say I surprised myself.”
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