Patrick Marleau made his emotional return to San Jose as the enemy, but it was the good guys that skated away with the much needed two points.
The hometown Sharks seized the moment en route to a 3-2 victory on Monday night. San Jose improved to 6-5-0 and have a winning record for the first time this season. Fresh off a very good east coast road trip, the Sharks looked confident against the "Stanley Cup favorites."
The Leafs' grabbed a lead in the first period thanks to their main man, Austin Matthews. Trailing 1-0, the Sharks bent but it was the Leafs that eventually broke.
San Jose squared up the contest in the second period thanks to a tip goal by the captain. Tim Heed fired the puck and Joe Pavelski did was he does best. Joe Thornton picked up an assist on the play, placing him in sole-possesion of 20th place all-time in NHL scoring.
The Sharks used their sized and physicality to keep the Leafs off-balance the rest of the night. The speedy teams out east don't do well against big teams like the Sharks. San Jose shut down and shut out New Jersey in much the same manner.
Joel Ward picked up his first goal of the season with an ENG late that soon became the GWG. Ward's tally put SJ ahead 3-1, but some lazy play led to a late Toronto goal.
Martin Jones was solid stopping 16 of 18 shots for his 7th win in seven tries vs. Toronto. He joins Patrick Lalime as the only goalies to win their first seven games against the Leafs. Random fact from last night's telecast.
Overall it was probably the Sharks most complete effort of the season. They finished with a heavy shot advantage and dominated the special teams battle by staying out of the box and picking up a PPG. Turned out to be the difference in the game.
I've resigned myself to expect many more games just like this. The Sharks improved to 3-1 in one-goal games, including back-to-back 3-2 games.
San Jose plays game two of the five-game home stand on Wednesday when Nashville invades the Tank.
Thanks for reading, Steve