EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — The San Jose Sharks continue to show why they’re the NHL’s top road team.
James Reimer made 31 saves in his first shutout of the season, Logan Couture scored twice and San Jose beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 on Tuesday night to improve its road record to an impressive 25-9-3.
Joe Pavelski also scored for the Sharks, who won their second in a row. They’ve now won five of their last six and have gone 19-5-4 since Jan. 9.
“I thought we played a real solid road game,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “We got great goaltending from Rimes when we needed it and it was a tidy game from my perspective.”
It was Reimer’s first shutout since Oct. 29, 2013, also against the Oilers.
“I semi-remember it, but it might have been a while ago,” said Reimer, who was acquired by the Sharks in a deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs shortly before the NHL trade deadline. “It’s nice to get another one.”
Cam Talbot stopped 19 shots for Edmonton, which had won four of its previous five games.
“Reimer made some good saves, but we missed the net on some really good chances and I think that’s a reflection on our game,” Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. “We didn’t have a lot of polish, we couldn’t put two passes together. On 3-on-1s we were falling down, the first goal on Cam, he usually handles that. To a man we weren’t really polished. We couldn’t find a combination of five players who were sharp at any given point.”
The Sharks started the scoring just 1:33 into the game when a puck bounced around before landing between the legs of Talbot, who spun around in vain trying to find it before Couture swatted it into the net.
San Jose went up 2-0 with a power-play goal at 15:50 of the first when Couture picked the top corner with a wrist shot from the faceoff dot for his 10th of the season.
Pavelski, the Sharks captain, gave his team a three-goal lead with 6 minutes left in the second period, tipping his 31st of the season past Talbot on Paul Martin’s shot.
Edmonton had some chances in the final period but couldn’t get a puck past Reimer.
San Jose wasn’t impressed with a play late in the game where Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse went after Roman Polak. Nurse was trying to get even for an earlier play where Polak hit Edmonton’s Matt Hendricks heavily into the boards.
“He was trying to change and Nurse has the puck, shoots it at him, then drops his gloves and jumps him,” Couture said. “Roman didn’t even have his gloves off. Our guy was already on the ice, because Roman was coming off and then Nurse starts punching him. Roman couldn’t even defend himself. It’s clearly an instigator, and I’m sure he’ll be suspended.”
NOTES: It was the third of four games between the two teams this season, with each winning one in overtime. ... Talbot was named the NHL’s first star of the week on Monday. ... Out for the Oilers were Oscar Klefbom (leg), Andrew Ference (hip), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (hand), Brandon Davidson (knee), Justin Schultz (illness), Benoit Pouliot (shoulder) and Eric Gryba (knee). ... The lone injury of note for the Sharks was Tommy Wingels (shoulder). ... Trade deadline acquisitions Patrick Maroon, Adam Pardy and Adam Cracknell made their home debuts for the Oilers. ... Both teams are back at it on Thursday night. The Oilers make a trip to Minnesota, and the Sharks return home to host New Jersey.