In San Jose, the Sharks improved to 10-10-1 on the strength of a 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings in a shootout on Saturday night.
The win was the sixth in row for the Sharks who were dead in the water just two weeks ago.
Martin Jones made 25 saves in the win.
“I thought I made some good saves late in the game,” Jones said. “But we hung in there and found a way to win. That’s what we struggled to do early in the season.”
Andreas Athanasiou had two goals for the Red Wings including a third period strike that forced extra time and skills competition.
“I thought it was one of our better games, believe it or not,” Detroit’s Dylan Larkin said. “That’s a really good team over there that’s playing really well right now, and it was a back-and-forth game.”
Kevin Labanc scored once and had three points on the night; he also had the only score in the skills competition.
“It feels awesome, but it doesn’t stop there,” Labanc said. “We’ve just got to make sure we keep this momentum going.”
Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Erik Karlsson also scored in regulation.
“We have a good system and prepare well for each team and make adjustments against certain guys,” Karlsson said. “And when we get out there, we’re not thinking as much because they have control of the puck and we react, make good reads and our instincts take over more than usual probably.”
Taro Hirose added a single marker for Detroit.
“We’re obviously taking steps forward and we’re trying to learn every game,” Athanasiou said. “[We’re] trying to become a full unit and play for a full 60 [minutes]. When we do that, we’re a really good team and we can play with any of these teams in this league.”
[WATCH: All Red Wings vs. Sharks highlights]
Jimmy Howard made 16 saves in the loss.
“We got four out of six points (on the three-game California road trip),” Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill said. “It’s certainly disappointing the way the L.A. game ended, and the fact that we had a chance to win tonight. But, in the end, we got four out of six points.”
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