Alyn McCauley’s power-play score sparked a three-goal flurry by San Jose over the final four minutes of the first period, and the Sharks held on for the 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday night.
The victory was Ron Wilson’s first as San Jose’s coach.
Christoph Brander got his first career goal to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead 6:24 into the game before McCauley’s goal started San Jose’s spurt.
Just 37 seconds later, Mike Ricci redirected a pass from Scott Thornton past Wild goaltender Dwayne Roloson to give the Sharks the lead. Patrick Marleau’s power-play goal with 9.9 seconds remaining in the first gave San Jose a 3-1 advantage.
Rookie Brent Burns scored his first career goal 4:22 into the second period to pull Minnesota within a goal.
Despite controlling the puck for much of the third period and taking eight shots, the Wild couldn’t get the puck past San Jose goalie Vesa Toskala. Toskala finished with 23 saves.
Manny Fernandez replaced Roloson at the start of the second period, and he finished with 15 saves.
Panthers’ Biron out 1 week
Florida Panthers defenseman Mathieu Biron was placed on injured reserve Sunday because of a hand injury and is expected to be sidelined a week.
He was hurt in Saturday night’s 1-1 tie against Boston.
Florida called up right wing Jaroslav Bednar from San Antonio of the AHL. Bednar had five goals and 13 assists in 52 games for the Panthers last season. He was sent down to San Antonio on Oct. 7.
Drought ends
Calgary goaltender Jamie McLennan ended a personal 13-game winless streak and recorded his first victory since Nov. 5 in the Flames’ 3-2 win over San Jose on Saturday night. McLennan came in early in the second period after starter Roman Turek was injured in a collision with McCauley.
RESULTS, SUNDAY’S SYNOPSIS
Los Angeles 4 at Blackhawks 2
Kings’ Trent Klatt on scoring twice in 33 seconds: “It’s pretty simple. I just go to the net hard and do the work in the corners. It’s paying off right now.”
San Jose 3 at Minnesota 2
Sharks’ Milan Michalek did not dress after injuring right knee in Saturday’s loss in Calgary. Wild’s Willie Mitchell played wearing a full-face shield after being hit by a puck in practice.
Phoenix 2 at Anaheim 0
Ladislav Nagy scored on a power play in the 1st period, and goaltender Sean Burke stopped 31 shots, thwarting the Ducks on 5 power plays. Daymond Langkow had an empty-net goal.
St. Louis 2 at Colorado 1
Keith Tkachuk scored a pair of goals to become the 74th NHL player to score 400 and Chris Osgood stopped 39 shots to lead the Blues. The Blues killed six power plays.
