In Newark, the San Jose Sharks’ Kaapo Kahkonen made 44 saves in a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils on Friday night. 
Anthony Duclair and Jacob MacDonald hit for doubles for the Sharks in the win.
“It was a great all-around game for us,” Duclair said. “It’s a big road trip for us; we obviously wanted to get our first road win. All four lines were rolling and it gave us confidence.”
The Sharks moved to 6-16-2.
“I’m happy for our guys,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “It’s been a tough year, especially on the road. To find a way to win is a tribute to our team. When you see guys getting rewarded for hard work, it makes you feel good.”
MacDonald scored his first of the night at 2:10 for a 1-0 lead to the Sharks in the first.
“We were opportunistic tonight,” Quinn said.
New Jersey replied at 13:21 of the first on a power play marker from Dawson Mercer s for a 1-1 tie.
In the middle frame, MacDonald picked up his double to give the Sharks a 2-1 lead 2:51, and Duclair hit for his first 9:47 for a 3-1 advantage to San Jose.
“We started out hot,” MacDonald said. “A quick goal and that builds confidence from off the start. And Kahkonen was incredible all night.”
New Jersey dropped to 11-10-1.
“It’s puck management,” New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. “(Our defensive breakdowns) have nothing to do with (our) system. It’s a decision where you want to put the puck. We knew we were going to have the puck the majority of the time. We knew we would have zone time. You can do all this good work but if you’re going to disrespect the game, which we did … it’s disappointing.”
In the third, Jack Hughes trimmed the deficit to 3-2 at 2:56.
Duclair potted his double for a 4-2 lead to San Jose at 5:07.
New Jersey pulled back to within one, 4-3 on a strike by Ondrej Palat at 12:58.
“If you look at our defensive game, it’s not where we want it to be,” New Jersey’s Timo Meier said”We got to tighten that up as a group and individually we got to look in the mirror and clean some stuff up. We know we have a lot of talent on this team, but talent (alone) is not going to get you far.”
Mikael Granlund restored the two-goal lead at 13:38m making it 5-3..
“Our game overall has been getting better,” Granlund said. “We know if we are good defensively, everything else will come for us and we got our first road win.”
The Sharks’ William Eklund hit an empty net with 18 seconds left on the game clock for the 6-3 final.
Akira Schmid made 12 saves on 17 shots in the loss.
“We went back to Akira as just a vote of confidence for winning (at Philadelphia),” Ruff said. “But you got to get timely saves.”
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