Sharks End Lightning Point Streak

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Evander Kane scored two goals to reach 200 for his career as the San Jose Sharks beat Tampa Bay 5-2 on Saturday night, snapping the NHL-leading Lightning’s 16-game point streak.

Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski scored 34 seconds apart midway through the first period, setting the tone for San Jose, which never trailed as it won for the fourth time in five games. Lukas Radil also scored, Brent Burns had two assists and Erik Karlsson added two to extend his assists streak to 12 games. Martin Jones stopped 19 shots.

Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson
Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson (Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports)

Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev scored for the Lightning, who had won seven straight and were 15-0-1 since a 3-1 loss to Anaheim on Nov. 27. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 28 saves.

Couture scored his 16th goal at 9:27 of the first period and Pavelski punched in his team-leading 25th just past the midpoint of the period to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead.

Hedman got his fifth with 3:47 left in the opening period to make it a 2-1 game.

Related THW Content: Lightning Streak: Who’s Going to Stop Them?

Kane scored on a power play at 4:23 of the second period to give the Sharks a two-goal lead again. However, Sergachev got his first of the season in his 40th game just 30 seconds later to pull Tampa Bay within one.

Kane restored the Sharks’ two-goal lead with his 14th at 5:18 of the third, and Radil got his sixth with 7:40 left to cap the scoring.

NOTES: The Sharks played without D Justin Braun (knee), D Marc-Edouard Vlasic (wrist) and D Radim Simek (concussion). Braun was placed on inured reserve. … D Jacob Middleton made his NHL debut for San Jose. … The Sharks scored two goals on four shots in the first period. … San Jose reserve goalie Aaron Dell came in for Jones briefly after Sergachev’s goal in the second period. Dell played 1:09 and had one save. … Stamkos had an assist on Hedman’s goal. He has 21 points (13 goals, eight assists) in his last 12 games. … The Lightings’ Nikita Kucherov and Braydon Point had point streaks of 12 and eight games snapped.

UP NEXT

Lightning: Host Columbus on Tuesday night.

Sharks: Host Los Angeles on Monday night.

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Gideon Rubin, The Associated Press