Music: {allcanada} Sharks bounce back to beat Oilers

Thursday, January 2, 2014

{allcanada} Sharks bounce back to beat Oilers

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SAN JOSE -- The San Jose Sharks rebounded from one of their worst losses of the season in a big way Thursday, getting goals from five players in a 5-1 victory against the Edmonton Oilers at SAP Center.

Brent Burns, Patrick Marleau, Bracken Kearns, Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski each scored a goal for San Jose, and goaltender Antti Niemi made 23 saves.

The Sharks were coming off a 6-3 road loss against the Anaheim Ducks on New Year's Eve; after the game, Sharks coach Todd McLellan harshly criticized his team's effort and performance, and he continued sending that message Thursday morning.

Message delivered.

Burns and Marleau scored goals 49 seconds apart in the first period, giving the Sharks a 2-0 lead. Kearns and Couture connected 1:27 apart in the second period to make it 4-0.

Edmonton's Nail Yakupov scored at 15:39 to make it 4-1, but Pavelski scored at 5:44 of the third to put the game away.

The Sharks improved to 15-1-3 at SAP Center and won their fifth straight home game. With 58 points, the Sharks pulled within five of first place Anaheim in the Pacific Division. The Sharks won a game by more than two goals for the first time since Nov. 29 when they beat the St. Louis Blues 6-3.

The Oilers , who visit the Ducks on Friday night, lost their third straight game and saw their four-game point streak snapped. Goaltender Devan Dubnyk, starting for the first time since his 27-save shutout of the Calgary Flames on Dec. 27, allowed five goals on 36 shots.

Burns scored his 13th of the season at 14:37, taking a pass from Pavelski in the lower right circle and beating Dubnyk to the stick side. Marleau made it 2-0 at 15:26 of the first with a unassisted goal. He stole the puck from Yakupov along the boards in Edmonton's defensive zone, skated toward the slot and snapped a shot through traffic and past Dubnyk for his team-high 18th goal of the season.

Marleau's goal was also the 422nd of his career, tying him with former Shark Owen Nolan for 73rd place on the NHL's all-time list.

After being a healthy scratch Tuesday night against the Phoenix Coyotes, Yakupov returned to the lineup and skated at left wing on the second line. Oilers coach Dallas Eakins said he wanted Yakupov to play a "simple game" and play sound defensively, but his turnover helped put the Oilers in a two-goal hole.

The Sharks outshot Edmonton 17-7 in the first period, with Burns taking five shots.

Kearns increased San Jose's lead to 3-0 at 7:18 of the middle period with his third NHL goal; he's scored in each of San Jose's past three games. Kearns, 32, took a pass from Andrew Desjardins in the high slot and ripped a one-timer over Dubnyk's glove.

Couture made it 4-0 at 8:45 with 13th goal of the season and 200th career point. Edmonton turned over the puck in San Jose's end, and John McCarthy hit a wide-open Couture in stride with a long pass near the blue line. Couture wristed a shot into the upper right corner, extending his goal streak to three games after a 10-game drought.

Yakupov scored his seventh goal of the season at 15:39. He reached high to grab a loose puck, set it down in the left circle, wristed a shot past Niemi and celebrated with a fist pump.

One day after being named to the U.S. Olympic team for the second time, Pavelski scored his 17th goal of the season, ripping a long slap shot inside the right post. After Pavelski scored, fans at SAP Center chanted, "USA! USA! USA!"

Sharks forward Mike Brown, a former Oiler, got hit by San Jose shots in his foot and his back during a sequence late in the game and struggled to get off the ice.

Sharks forward Tommy Wingels missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury. Forward Tyler Kennedy and defenseman Brad Stuart were healthy scratches. Defenseman Scott Hannan returned to the lineup after being scratched for five straight games.

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