SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — William Eklund scored in the opening minute to set the tone for San Jose and the Sharks earned their first home win of the season by beating the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Thursday night.
Eklund scored on a breakaway just 42 seconds into the game, with linemates Philipp Kurashev and Alex Wennberg adding goals later in the first period for San Jose.
Will Smith and Tyler Toffoli then scored late in the second period to break the game open and give San Jose its first win in six games at the Shark Tank this season.
Alex Nedeljkovic made 29 saves.
Macklin Celebrini assisted on Smith's goal late in th second to extend his points streak to a career-best six straight games and give the 19-year-old 17 points already this season. The only teenagers with more in his team's first 11 games are Bryan Trottier (20), Steve Yzerman (19), Wayne Gretzky (18) and Sidney Crosby (18).
Dawson Mercer scored two power-play goals for the Devils, who have lost two straight games to open their four-game road trip. New Jersey had won eight in a row before losing 8-4 at Colorado on Tuesday.
Jake Allen made 23 saves to lose for the first time this season after winning his first five decisions.
Mercer's first goal late in the first cut San Jose's lead to 3-1 and the Devils controlled the play for much of the second period. But they couldn't get anything past Nedeljkovic before the Sharks took over late.
Celebrini won an offensive zone faceoff and got the puck to Smith, who got stopped on his first attempt but Allen on the rebound for his fourth goal of the season.
Toffoli then deflected a shot from Dmitry Orlov to make it 5-1 with 1:30 left in the second period.
Devis : Visit Los Angeles on Saturday.
Sharks: Host Colorado on Saturday.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
