In San Jose, the Minnesota Wild came to town and hung a 3-2 loss on the Sharks, Thursday night.
The win pushed the Wild into the first wild card spot in the Western Conference.
“It feels good to be back in there,” Minnesota’s Zach Parise said. “It was a good start to the road trip. I think it’s just a product of the way we’ve been playing lately. I feel like we keep getting better and better.”
Alex Stalock made 40 saves to earn the win.
“Anytime you’re playing against old friends it’s a ton of fun. I love it, it’s a test,” Stalock said. “[To] play against guys you used to practice with so many days, you come up through the American [Hockey] League with, played NHL games with, it’s quite a journey. Now, looking from the other side, it’s fun.”
Stefan Noesen and Joe Thornton broke through for goals against Stalock.
“It’s like time ran out,” Sharks head coach Bob Boughner said. “I believe if we had five more minutes on the clock we probably would have tied the game up. You’ve got to push hard at the start of the game to get that first goal that you need.”
Parise, Ryan Suter and Alex Galchenyuk scored for the Wild.
“It almost felt like playoff hockey a couple games ago,” Galchenyuk said. “It’s been a lot of fun, a lot of pressure, but as a group we’re handling it real well and just enjoying it.”
[WATCH: All Wild at Sharks highlights]
Martin Jones made 24 saves in the loss.
“I don’t think we gave up a whole lot,” Boughner said. “They capitalized on a couple of their chances. We got away from how we played the last three games, especially in the other end. We got a little picky with our shots, we got a little fancier than what we were doing in our earlier games.”
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