The Sharks take advantage of a Minnesota Wild team that played the night before and was on a six-game win streak and snap their three-game skid with a 5-2 victory, heading into the Christmas break on a high note.
The Sharks set the tone in this one from the get-go and seem to play some of their best hockey against the Wild as of late. Erik Karlsson scored the first goal of the game 44 seconds in on a nifty saucer pass from Jaycob Megna. Alexander Barabanov picked up the other assist on that first goal. The Wild tied it at one around two minutes later via Joel Eriksson Ek on a breakaway. During the later half of the first, Noah Gregor scored his second goal of the season to put the Sharks back ahead by one, with assists from Erik Karlsson and Matt Benning.
During the later half of the second period, Matt Dumba hit Matt Nieto hard in the neutral zone, resulting in Jaycob Megna dropping the gloves with Dumba. Soon after, Mason Shaw caught Evgeny Svechnikov in the knee, badly hurting Svechnikov in the process and briefly knocking him out of the game. Not only did Shaw receive a five-minute major for that dirty play, he was also given a game misconduct. Fortunately, Svechnikov made it back out there for the third period but had his knee wrapped in ice after the game. Don't be shocked if Mason Shaw receives a suspension from the NHL Department of Player Safety for the kneeing incident. On the ensuing power play, the Sharks made the Wild pay with Timo Meier's 18th goal of the season from Erik Karlsson and Nick Bonino. The Sharks followed that up with Oskar Lindblom's second goal of the season from Erik Karlsson and Timo Meier to make it 4-1 late in the second. That brings EK65's total to four points (one goal, three assists) on the night, his third four-point game of the season, a nine-game point streak, and 46 points on the season. The Wild were able to sneak one into cut their deficit to two before the end of the second period, with that goal being credited to Mats Zuccarello.
The Sharks topped this one off with 13.5 seconds remaining in the game with an empty-netter from Kevin Labanc for his eighth of the season.
James Reimer was excellent in this one, recording 24 saves in the win.
The Sharks needed this one after dropping their previous two to the Flames and got the job done. All areas of the Sharks' game were clicking, and this was a great win, heading into the Christmas break with a significant confidence boost. After the Christmas break, the Sharks travel to Vancouver to face the Canucks in their first game back on Tuesday at 7 pm PT.
Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL App, Bay Area News Group
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