SAN JOSE – A pair of goals from unlikely sources and 22 saves from Martin Jones helped the Sharks to a 4-1 win over Arizona on Saturday night at SAP Center.
Matt Tennyson and Chris Tierney scored in the first, while Tomas Hertl added a third period insurance goal as the Sharks improved to 6-0-3 in their last nine home games.
San Jose (29-20-5, 63 points) remains in second place in the Pacific Division, one point ahead of Anaheim and six behind the first place Kings. They opened up a seven-point cushion on Arizona (25-24-6, 56 points), which has lost six of its last seven.
After an awful beginning on Thursday against Calgary, the Sharks jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead.
Tennyson’s second goal of the year opened the scoring. His wrist shot from the point somehow got through Louie Domingue at 2:59, staking the home team an early edge.
Tierney increased the lead late in the frame. The fourth line center got position on Oliver Ekman-Larsson in front of the net and tucked home a perfect pass to his tape from Brent Burns at 18:56 for his seventh score.
The Coyotes played better in the middle frame and cut the lead in half courtesy of Martin Hanzal, who got behind the Sharks’ defense and flicked a shot inside the near post at 1:58.
Jordan Martinook had a chance to tie later in the second on a shorthanded partial breakaway, but he couldn’t squeeze the puck through Jones about eight minutes in.
In the third, Hertl had a goal immediately waved off due to a high stick at 10:37, which a video review confirmed was the correct call. No matter, though, as Hertl redirected a Brent Burns low laser just 21 seconds later to give the Sharks a late two-goal cushion.
Joonas Donskoi’s empty-net power play goal with 1:19 to go capped the scoring.
The Sharks managed to kill a Tommy Wingels minor for holding in the third, and held Arizona to just one shot over the final frame.
Burns posted his second straight two-assist game, while Melker Karlsson also had a pair of secondary helpers.
The Sharks and Coyotes meet again on March 17 in Glendale, March 20 in San Jose, and close out the regular season against one another on April 9 at SAP Center.
San Jose is 12-1-3 in its last 16 games against Arizona.
Special teams
The Sharks finished 1-for-4 on the power play on Donskoi’s empty-netter. They are 10-for-31 in their last seven games (32.2 percent).
The Coyotes were 0-fo-3.
In goal
Jones improved to 10-2-1 in his last 13 starts, and 3-0 against Arizona in his career. He’s allowed just two goals to the Coyotes in 180 minutes.
Domingue fell to 1-4-1 in his last six starts with 24 saves, and has allowed 21 goals over that span. The 23-year-old is 0-3 in his career against the Sharks.
Lineup
Brenden Dillon missed his second straight game with an upper body injury that is not believed to be long-term.
With a pair of assists, Burns now has 16 multi-point games this season, leading the team.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic increased his point/assist streak to seven games with a helper on Donskoi's empty net goal.
Up next
The Sharks are right back on the road for the next five games, beginning on Tuesday in Tampa Bay. The Lightning beat San Jose at SAP Center on Dec. 5, 4-3.
After Tampa Bay, the team makes stops in Florida, Carolina, St. Louis and Colorado before its next home game on Feb. 26.
