San Jose has had little trouble racking up wins so far this season, though it's only in the last week or so that the Sharks feel they've actually started playing well.
Kent Huskins and Brad Staubitz scored 1:22 apart in the second period, and Evgeni Nabokov made 25 saves as surging San Jose continued its strong recent play, beating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-1 yesterday for a fifth consecutive win.
"We're playing better and better each night and doing the things we need to do to win," said Sharks defenseman Douglas Murray, who also scored.
Brandon Sutter scored his second goal in as many games for the Hurricanes, who haven't won in nine games and are off to their worst start (2-8-3) in franchise history.
"It's not any one consistent thing through the bunch of games -- it's a different fire each day," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said. "I probably can't explain how frustrating that is."
Sutter started the scoring early in the second period when he broke in on the left wing and wristed a shot past Nabokov's blocker. The puck rang off the right post before ricocheting into the net. Sutter, who had one career goal coming into the weekend, also scored Carolina's lone goal in its 6-1 loss to Philadelphia on Saturday.
The Hurricanes have been outscored 16-4 in their last three games.
"I think we're all taken aback, and I think that's part of it," Maurice said.
San Jose 0 3 2 -- 5
Carolina 0 1 0 -- 1
Second Period--1, Carolina, Sutter 2 (Harrison, LaRose), 2:48. 2, San Jose, Huskins 1 (Demers, Clowe), 4:05. 3, San Jose, Staubitz 2 (Shelley, Couture), 5:27. 4, San Jose, Murray 1 (Thornton, Clowe), 14:52.
Third Period--5, San Jose, Vlasic 2 (Marleau, Blake), 4:20. 6, San Jose, Marleau 11 (Thornton, Heatley), 11:12 (pp).
Shots on Goal--San Jose 9-11-5--25. Carolina 8-5-13--26. Power-play opportunities--San Jose 1 of 5; Carolina 0 of 3. Goalies--San Jose, Nabokov 9-3-1 (26 shots-25 saves). Carolina, C.Ward 2-7-3 (25-20). A--15,089 (18,680). T--2:19.
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