Logan Couture had two goals and an assist, Timo Meier added a goal and an assist and the visiting San Jose Sharks defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 Friday night.
Erik Karlsson and Jonathan Dahlen also scored for the Sharks, who have won their first four games of the season. They have begun a five-game road trip with three straight victories.
Jason Spezza, Ondrej Kase and John Tavares scored for the Maple Leafs, who have lost two in a row.
Adin Hill stopped 30 shots for San Jose. Michael Hutchinson made 26 saves for Toronto.
Each team had 11 shots on goal during a goalless first period.
There was a three-goal burst over 73 seconds early in a five-goal second period.
San Jose took the lead at 2:31 when Couture scored from the edge of the crease after Marc-Edouard Vlasic created the chance with a wraparound.
Toronto tied the game on Spezza’s goal from the slot at 3:27 following a scramble around the net. Pierre Engvall and Wayne Simmonds earned the assists.
Meier scored on a long, sharp-angled shot from the right circle at 3:44, and San Jose led 2-1.
Toronto tied the game again at 10:24 on Kase’s breakaway goal.
The Sharks regained the lead at 11:55 on Karlsson’s shot from the right point after an Auston Matthews turnover and a Jacob Middleton pass.
Each team had 23 shots on goal after two periods.
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Dahlen scored his third goal of the season 25 seconds into the third period from the low slot to give San Jose a 4-2 lead.
Tavares cut the lead to one on a rebound at 13:39 of the third. William Nylander’s shot deflected off a San Jose defenseman, off Hill and off Tavares.
After the Maple Leafs killed off a high-sticking penalty called on Spezza at 14:24, Hutchinson made a save on Karlsson to keep the margin at one goal.
Hill made a superb glove save on Auston Matthews at 18:40.
Couture scored his third goal of the season into an empty net at 19:20.
–Field Level Media