Sharks defeat Maple Leafs, win streak at four to start season

TORONTO-- The San Jose Sharks won their fourth straight game to start the season, 5-3 against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Friday.

Logan Couture had two goals and an assist, Timo Meier had a goal and an assist, and Adin Hill made 30 saves for the Sharks, who defeated the Ottawa Senators 2-1 on Thursday.
"Just the way we won it, being a back-to-back situation coming into a building where we knew they were rested and hungry and looking to break out offensively, it was just a huge two points and keeps us rolling," San Jose coach Bob Boughner said. "More than anything, it was complete team effort for us."
Jason Spezza, Ondrej Kase and John Tavares scored, and Michael Hutchinson made 26 saves for the Maple Leafs (2-2-1), who had not played since Monday, a 2-1 overtime loss to the New York Rangers.
"We thought we should have had a better start in terms of being able to dictate the pace and score first," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. "I thought we had the puck a ton, probably twice as much as the opposition tonight, but they made it challenging to get to the front of the net, they were protecting the inside a lot. We didn't adjust quickly enough, we didn't make it hard enough on the goaltending, our power play couldn't be the difference we needed, especially early in the game, and as a result we were chasing all the way though."
The Sharks took a 3-2 lead at 11:55 of the second period when Erik Karlsson shot past Hutchinson's blocker from above the right face-off circle after a pass from Jake Middleton, who intercepted a clearing attempt from Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews at the blue line.
"A couple of those goals definitely fall on me, I've got to be better in our own zone and take care of the puck," said Matthews, who was minus-2.
Jonathan Dahlen made it 4-2 25 seconds into the third period when he one-timed a pass from Couture. The 23-year-old center has scored three goals in his first four NHL games.
"The third-period goal, that's inexcusable, you cannot start the period like that when you're trying to come back," Keefe said.

John Tavares got Toronto within 4-3 at 13:39 when a rebound from William Nylander's shot went off his skate. Hill made a glove save on Matthews, who took a slap shot from the left face-off dot, with 1:18 remaining.
"That was an insane stop, that was so awesome," Dahlen said. "We know he's got it in him to win games for us. He made a couple of great saves tonight."
Couture scored into an empty net with 40 seconds remaining to make it 5-3. He has scored seven points (three goals, four assists) this season.
"The way they play, they really keep everybody on the outside and try to control the middle of the ice," Matthews said. "I don't think we did a good enough job to generate chances, Grade-A scoring chances on the inside. I think we could all be better. We didn't take advantage of having a very good start. Our start wasn't ideal for us, especially playing a team coming off back to backs."
Meier put San Jose ahead 2-1 at 3:44 of the second period when his shot from the boards went between Hutchinson's blocker and chest protector.
"No, I didn't see a hole, I just tried to get it on net, I saw there was traffic," Meier said. "Dahlen did a nice job getting in front of his eyes to get some confusion there."

Kase scored his first goal with the Maple Leafs to tie it 2-2 at 10:24 when he blocked Tomas Hertl's shot at the defensive blue line, which led to a breakaway. The forward signed as a free agent this offseason after an upper-body injury limited him to three games for the Boston Bruins last season.
The Sharks went up 1-0 at 2:31 of the second period when Couture jammed in a centering pass from Marc-Edouard Vlasic at the top of the crease. Spezza tied it 1-1 56 seconds later when he shot past Hill's glove from the slot during a scramble.
"It's huge to start like this," Couture said. "That was the main focus in training camp, to get off to a good start this year. Last two years, we haven't and it's snowballed into tough seasons. We had a really good camp, a really good preseason and we've carried it into the regular season."