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The San Jose Sharks hung on for a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres tonight, rebounding after two straight losses.
Mario Ferraro drew back into the Sharks’ lineup and Adin Hill also got his first start for the Sharks since December 16, while Logan Couture and Lane Pederson remained out.
The Sharks opened the scoring about two-thirds of the way through the first period, as Nick Bonino took the puck off Tage Thompson in Buffalo's zone, then Andrew Cogliano put a pass to Matt Nieto in front, who beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Then just after that, Timo Meier fired an excellent long-range shot to beat Luukkonen, putting San Jose up by two.
The Sharks weren’t done there though, as Alexander Barabanov got a pass to Tomas Hertl on a rush and Hertl scored as well, as San Jose took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. It was great to see the Sharks starting strong, given how they’ve opened the last few games.
Jeff Skinner got the Sabres on the board in the second period, taking the puck from a battle along the boards and beating Adin Hill with a nice shot. The Sharks let Buffalo into the game a bit in the frame, being outshot 9-5 and giving the Sabres a late power play opportunity, but it remained 3-1 after 40 minutes.
The Sharks got badly outplayed in the final frame though, being outshot by a ridiculous 22-5 margin in the period. There were a good number of defensive zone turnovers and even if the Sabres didn’t have a huge amount of quality chances, the number of shots fired at Hill and lack of time spent in Buffalo’s end were concerning.
The Sabres then pulled the game back to within a goal on a late power play, as Zemgus Girgensons batted in a rebound off an initial shot from Tage Thompson that rang off the crossbar. Despite a late push from Buffalo to tie it though, San Jose held on for a 3-2 win.
The Sharks had a rough final frame as well as a fairly poor back 40 minutes overall and I’m not sure how much they should be praised for this effort. That said, this game showed the benefits of having a good start. Huge credit to Adin Hill though, who stopped 37 shots in his first start since mid-December. Regardless, the Sharks got the win, improving to 18-16-1 this season.
San Jose’s next game comes on Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers.
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Supersurvey
OTHER ARTICLES FROM JANUARY
Sharks' comeback falls short in 8-5 loss to Penguins
Sharks continue to allow goals at a rapid rate, lose 6-2 to Red Wings 
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