SAN JOSE -– There were several tanks that weren’t all that full on Thursday night, and that has nothing to do with the sparse crowd at the SAP Center, still commonly referred to as the Shark Tank.
In front of an alarmingly small crowd, the Sharks managed to fight through the fatigue of playing their fourth game in six nights and third straight in a different time zone in getting past Todd McLellan’s Edmonton Oilers in a shootout, 2-1.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored in regulation, Martin Jones made 24 saves, and Joe Pavelski and Joonas Donskoi converted their shootout attempts to move San Jose to 22-18-2 (46 points) and into third place in the Pacific Division.
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“I thought we had real good energy tonight considering [the schedule],” said Pete DeBoer, whose team secured wins in Calgary and Winnipeg at the start of the week. “I was a little worried about it going into the game, but guys showed up, I thought we had good legs. … I was real happy with our effort, our attention to detail, our energy.”
Joe Thornton said: “The guys just beared down and willed that win tonight.”
[KURZ: Instant Replay: Donskoi's SO goal spoils McLellan's return]
It wasn’t their best performance in what is now a four-game winning streak, and it came against an Oilers club that has resumed its place at the bottom of the Pacific Division standings. But it was an important win, nonetheless. For the first time this season, the Sharks have back-to-back victories in their own building, including last Saturday’s 7-0 demolition of the Maple Leafs.
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It would be stretch to say the Sharks have turned a corner, as all four wins have come against teams that are either sixth or seventh in their respective divisions. Still, the Sharks feel they are getting their game in order after what has been an up-and-down regular season that has now officially entered the second half.
Being close to full health has helped. Logan Couture continues to get better every game, and although he didn’t get on the scoresheet on Thursday, he recorded a whopping 11 shots on goal.
“I just like how we’re playing. I like our game right now,” DeBoer said. “I don’t think it’s a secret that Couture comes back in the lineup and he starts to get back to a good pace and our game starts to come around again.”
Vlasic said: "It's important to put a couple wins together. Now we've got four in a row. We're climbing in the standings. You want to keep it going."
The highlight on Thursday came in the shootout. Donskoi, who was a shootout specialist in Finland before signing with the Sharks as a free agent in May, utterly froze Cam Talbot on his attempt before sliding it across the line. That gave the Sharks a 2-0 edge in the skills competition after Pavelski’s earlier score, and the game ended when Jones denied Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the next try by Edmonton.
San Jose has competed in just two shootouts this season, and Donskoi wasn’t utilized on Oct. 16 in New Jersey. He’ll probably be a regular now, though.
“The thing he has going for him is [other teams] don’t really have a book on him over here, for the most part,” DeBoer said. “There’s so much pre-scouting done now on the shootout, that I’m sure they wouldn’t have anything on him.”
That goal will likely get some attention and airtime, but Pavelski has seen other moves from the 23-year-old rookie in practice.
“He’s got a few of them so they can’t just be prepared for that one,” said the captain. “It’s a situation we know he’s fairly strong with. It’s good to see him score.”
DeBoer rewarded the Sharks with an unscheduled day off on Friday. The tired club will get a chance to rest up for Saturday against one of the NHL’s best offenses in the Dallas Stars, looking to extend its winning streak against one of the league’s top teams.
“We’re taking steps in the right direction and moving in the right direction,” Jones said. “Starting to get some results now."