Sharks beat sloppy Red Wings to extend strong start

The San Jose Sharks are off to the best start in franchise history while the Detroit Red Wings just want to stay out of the penalty box. <br/><br/>Patrick Marleau scored two of San Jose's five power-play

Friday, October 20th 2006, 11:33 am

By: News On 6

The San Jose Sharks are off to the best start in franchise history while the Detroit Red Wings just want to stay out of the penalty box.

Patrick Marleau scored two of San Jose's five power-play goals and the Sharks beat the sloppy Red Wings 5-1 Thursday night for their sixth victory in seven games.

Detroit committed 16 minor penalties in a nightlong parade to the box, and the Sharks responded with the best power-play performance in club history.

``It's just about taking advantage of your opportunities, and we did that,'' Marleau said. ``They kept putting the puck over the glass (for delay-of-game penalties). Everybody is doing great, and hopefully we can keep it going.''

In other NHL games, it was: Pittsburgh 4, New York Islanders 3 in overtime; Colorado 2, Ottawa 1; Atlanta 4, Washington 3 in a shootout; Nashville 4, New Jersey 3 in a shootout; Tampa Bay 4, Philadelphia 1; Boston 3, Calgary 2; and Los Angeles 4, Phoenix 0.

At San Jose, Calif., Milan Michalek, Mark Bell and Marleau scored in the first 15 minutes to chase Detroit goalie Chris Osgood. Jonathan Cheechoo and Marleau added third-period goals as the Sharks tied their club record for power-play scores, set last February in another home game against Detroit _ also tying the Red Wings' franchise record for man-advantage goals allowed.

Vesa Toskala made 21 saves to extend his unbeaten streak to 11 games dating to last spring, but lost the chance for his first shutout on Jiri Hudler's goal with 8:52 to play.

San Jose still easily improved to 6-1 for the first time in franchise history, topping its 5-2 start to the 1994-95 season.

One night after committing 14 penalties and giving up three power-play goals in a 4-1 loss at Anaheim, the Red Wings were mistake-prone again on the third stop of a four-game road trip.

``We can't put ourselves in that situation,'' captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. ``It's the same penalty situation all over again. You can't give that many chances to a team that good.''

Penguins 4, Islanders 3, OT

Sergei Gonchar scored Pittsburgh's third power-play goal 3:33 into overtime, and the visiting Penguins used the kid tandem of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to get the win.

Islanders captain Alexei Yashin was enjoying a three-point night, but he was in the penalty box when Gonchar took a pass from Ryan Whitney and ripped a shot in off the right post.

Malkin scored his second goal in two NHL games to tie it at 3 in the third, and the 19-year-old Crosby had three assists to help Pittsburgh snap a two-game losing streak.

Mike Dunham made 32 saves to earn a point for the Islanders. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 34 shots for Pittsburgh.

Avalanche 2, Senators 1

At Ottawa, Joe Sakic and Brad Richardson scored second-period goals and Jose Theodore made 26 saves for the Avalanche.

Sakic scored his third goal of the season midway through the second to open the scoring. Richardson got his third with a short-handed effort with 3:16 left in the period to put the Avalanche up by two.

Dany Heatley scored for Ottawa and Martin Gerber stopped 34 shots.

Thrashers 4, Capitals 3, SO

Vyacheslav Kozlov and Marian Hossa each scored in a shootout to give host Atlanta the win.

Kozlov beat Capitals goaltender Brent Johnson to open the shootout. Thrashers goalie Kari Lehtonen then stopped Alexander Semin before Hossa beat Johnson. Lehtonen blocked Alex Ovechkin's shot to finish off the 2-0 shootout.

Hossa, who scored earlier, got a tying goal with 33 seconds left in regulation to send it into overtime.

Ovechkin scored in the second period to give Washington a 3-2 lead.

Predators 4, Devils 3, SO

Martin Erat scored the only goal in the shootout and Chris Mason stopped all three shots to lead visiting Nashville.

Paul Kariya set up first-period power-play goals by Jason Arnott and Erat, and Scott Nichol scored short-handed in the second for the Predators.

Brian Gionta scored twice, including the tying goal with 11.6 seconds to go in regulation for New Jersey. Scott Gomez had the other goal for the Devils.

New Jersey's Scott Clemmensen had 15 saves in his first start of the season.

Lightning 4, Flyers 1

Ryan Craig and Ruslan Fedotenko scored second-period goals and Marc Denis made 34 saves for host Tampa Bay.

The Lightning, who had lost four of five, also got third-period goals from Vinny Prospal and Nikita Alexeev.

Denis lost his bid for his first shutout of the season and 16th overall when Sami Kapanen scored a short-handed goal with 4:12 left.

Philadelphia center Peter Forsberg left in the first after spraining his left wrist. A team official said X-rays were negative.

Bruins 3, Flames 2

Glen Murray scored two goals and Boston snapped a three-game losing streak this season, and a three-game skid in home openers.

Calgary forward Stephane Yelle was taken off the ice on a stretcher because of an ankle injury after falling backward and being pushed into the boards by Bruins defenseman Jason York late in the second period.

Hannu Toivonen made 26 saves for Boston, including several point-blank chances in the closing minutes.

Kings 4, Coyotes 0

Michael Cammalleri, Alexander Frolov and Anze Kopitar each had a goal and an assist for visiting Los Angeles.

The Kings scored all of their goals on the power play and Phoenix was assessed 57 penalty minutes.

Backup goaltender Mathieu Garon stopped 40 shots to earn his ninth career shutout and hand the Coyotes their fifth loss in six games.

Phoenix backup goalie Mike Morrison allowed three goals on 13 shots in a painful home debut.