In San Jose, the Sharks passed another test when they defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 5-2, Thursday night to move within one point of the top spot in the Pacific Division.
Martin Jones made 37 saves to get the win.
Joe Pavelski scored for the Sharks in win over Habs – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“I think we gutted out a win tonight,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “I think we’re dealing with a little bit of flu going through the team and a little shorthanded. I thought our goalie was our best player tonight, which gave us a chance, and I thought our third period, when we had to have a big period, we got our best period of the game. We did enough to win an important game.”
Tomas Hertl struck for his 30th of the season for San Jose.
“I’m very excited about it because I still look at myself more as a passer,” Hertl said. “I think I’m more a passer than a shooter, but lately the goals are going in and I’m happy.”
Artturi Lehkonen and Andrew Shaw scored for the Habs.
“This place isn’t an easy place for us to win, for sure,” Lehkonen said. “We had our chances to get ourselves back in the game after trailing by two goals, but we couldn’t. We have to ignore this game and focus on the one tomorrow night.”
Marcus Sorensen, Joe Thornton, Timo Meier, and Gustav Nyquist also scored for the Sharks.
The Sharks improved to 40-19-8.
[WATCH: All Canadiens vs. Sharks highlights]
Antti Niemi, who made 20 saves in the loss.
“We played well,” Montreal head coach Claude Julien said. “And sometimes the score doesn’t indicate the effort. I thought for two periods we were really, really good. They played better in the third.”
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