In San Jose, the Sharks ended a five-game losing streak that was uglier than what turns up at the bottom of the oceans.
On Tuesday night, the Sharks defeated the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-2 with the defense stepping up to limit the Hawks to just 21 shots on the night.
“It’s nice to win, it’s nice to get that feeling to win,” Sharks captain Logan Couture said.
Duncan Keith and Brandon Saad scored for the Hawks,
“Defensively, I think we’ve made some strides in being able to make a few more plays with the puck coming out of our zone,” Keith said. “It’s just a matter of trying to put it all together here.”
Martin Jones made 19 saves in the win.
The Sharks had taken a 3-0 lead before those two scores tightened the game up late.
“We have to be more engaged physically, we have to be harder to play against. We didn’t give them much until late in the third when they put a little bit of pressure on. We worked really hard at it,” San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said/
Patrick Marleau opened the scoring early in the first period.second.
“It feels good to get that first one, and we were able to build off that,” said Marleau, who scored twice against Chicago in his season debut, a 5-4 win Oct. 10, but had been held without a goal in 10 games since. “It’s nice playing with the lead.”
Evander Kane made it 2-0 on a shorthanded goal and Tomas Hertl scored to make it 3-0.
“To get out to a couple goals lead was nice,” Jones said. “We could just be smart with the puck, make good decisions, and not really give them much.”
With the offense clicking early and the defense pulling together the Sharks looked solid.
“I liked our game,” DeBoer said. “It was real similar to [a 3-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 1], but we found a way to score a couple more. It was nice to get rewarded for that type of effort.”
Timo Meier scored into an empty net to seal the win.
[WATCH: All Blackhawks vs. Sharks highlights]
Robin Lehner made 28 saves in the loss.
“We came in here against a team that plays well at home, and they seemed desperate for a win just as we were,” Jonathan Toews said. “But we got timid again, we showed flashes of what we can do. If everything goes our way, we seem to have all the confidence in the world. But if it starts off wrong, then we seem to fall a step behind. It just seems like you are skating uphill the whole game.”
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