NHL Game Summary - San Jose at Detroit
Detroit, MI (SportsNetwork.com) - Patrick Marleau tallied two goals and an assist to power the San Jose Sharks to a 6-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.
Logan Couture and Chris Tierney each finished with a goal and a helper, Marc- Edouard Vlasic and Matt Nieto also scored and Antti Niemi made 30 saves for the Sharks, who ended a two-game skid.
"On the offensive side, things were really good," said Marleau. "Defensively, obviously, there are things we can clean up, but we can't get picky right now. We'll take the two points."
Tomas Tatar, Tomas Jurco, Henrik Zetterberg and Stephen Weiss all lit the lamp for the Red Wings, who have dropped four of their last five games, but still sit in the third spot in the Atlantic Division with 90 points and nine games remaining.
"We're giving up too many goals," Detroit head coach Mike Babcock said. "We scored tons of goals in the last couple games, but it's like I said, we are chasing the game."
Jimmy Howard allowed three goals on just 10 shots in the first period and Petr Mrazek stopped 17-of-19 shots in relief.
Weiss pulled the Red Wings back within 4-3 by wristing home a rebound at 3:39 of the final stanza, but Marleau restored San Jose's two-goal lead just over a minute later with a snap shot from the right circle.
Zetterberg crashed the net and was credited for a goal after the puck went off several players in tight, making it a 5-4 game 7:27 into the third.
Mrazek was pulled with just under two minutes to play in favor of an extra attacker, but Marleau ended Detroit's hopes with an empty-net tally.
The Sharks wasted no time getting on the board as Melker Karlsson took a Detroit turnover and sent it back to the blue line, where Vlasic blasted a shot past a screened Howard just 19 seconds into the game.
Tierney slipped a backhanded pass from behind the net to Nieto, who settled the puck down from atop the goalmouth and wristed it off Howard for a 2-0 lead at 9:14.
Less than a minute later, the Red Wings cut the deficit in half as Jurco was credited with the goal after a frantic scramble in the crease.
Tatar tied the game with a deflection on Danny DeKeyser's shot from the point with 8:16 left in the first period.
The Sharks reclaimed the lead after Tierney's shot from below the goal line went off the skate of Detroit forward Joakim Andersson in front of the net and through Howard's pads for a 3-2 Sharks lead.
Couture skated up to the right circle and wristed a shot off the far post and into the net for a 4-2 score 31 seconds into the final stanza.