By Taylor Lupetti (@tayclupetti)
It was a season-high, 7-2 win for the San Jose Sharks tonight at SAP Center where they took down the Chicago Blackhawks.
San Jose goalie Martin Jones defended the net tonight like a brick wall, only letting two goals through. Chicago goaltender Jean-Francois Berube gave up six of the seven goals on 26 shots.
Both San Jose (35-21-9) and Chicago (27-29-8) had 34 shots on goal.
The Blackhawks were the first on the scoreboard with a goal by Artem Anisimov in the first two minutes of the game.
Captain center Joe Pavelski led San Jose’s power-scoring for 10 minutes into the first period to tie it up 1-1.
Season goal-leader and center Logan Couture wrapped up the first period scoring for the Sharks, and earned his 26th goal. The goal placed Couture in fourth for all-time goals in Sharks history, tying him with Owen Nolan (1996-2003).
The second period brought four more goals for the Sharks and marked a scoreless period for the Blackhawks.
Right-wing forward Kevin Labanc took the money straight to the bank and started the scoring rally with the help of center Chris Tierney and defenseman Dylan DeMelo.
Labanc’s goal was closely followed by right-wing forward Timo Meier who brought San Jose up 4-1 before the halfway point of the second period.
The Captain netted his second goal of the night with seven minutes left in the second but the Sharks weren’t done yet.
With less than two seconds left on the clock, defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s unassisted goal sent San Jose into the third period ahead 6-1. Vlasic’s goal set him at his career-high 10 goals and also made him the 10th Shark to hit double-digit goal numbers this season.
Right-wing forward Barclay Goodrow concluded the scoring for San Jose two minutes into the third period with assists from DeMelo and Marcus Sorensen to make it 7-1.
Chicago was the first and last on the board for the night. Nick Schmaltz scored in the final 30 seconds of the game to end it 7-2.
The Sharks are staying home this weekend to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets Sunday at 6 p.m.