The Sharks showed up on time tonight, pushing the pace of play from the drop of the puck to the final buzzer in the third period. Make no mistake, the score would have been a lot worse if it weren’t for some strong saves by Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson. Anderson made 50 saves in total, including a phenomenal one on a Marcus Sorensen breakaway in the second period.

On the other side of the ice, Aaron Dell was just perfect, stopping 25 goals for his second shutout of the season.

The big story of the game though was Alex Burrows, who was ejected late in the third period after hitting Dylan DeMelo in the face with the butt end of his stick. DeMelo left the ice with blood streaming down his face. Burrows received two minutes for roughing, five for fighting and a ten minute game misconduct. I imagine he’ll be suspended for the play.

San Jose opened up the scoring at the 12:55 mark of the first period. Justin Braun had a nice bank off the boards and Kevin Lebanc picked it up from there. He took it into the zone before dishing it off to Logan Couture. Couture beat Anderson five-hole to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead.

The Sens put on a bit of a push toward the end of the first, but were unable to score.

The Sharks continued to push the play in the second period. At the 5:31 mark, San Jose’s power play had just expired when Marc-Edouard Vlasic fired a shot from the point. Three Senators ended up screening Anderson and the puck went in. Sharks up 2-0.

About 10 minutes later, the top line jumped in on the scoring. Joe Thornton shrugged off two Senators behind the net and passed the puck to Joe Pavelski. Pavelski quickly dished it off to Melker Karlsson in the slot who made no mistake when he went top shelf on Anderson. 3-0 Sharks.

The Senators started to show a little frustration in the third and it evolved into Sorensen’s first career NHL fight. Sorensen was basically jumped by the Sens Ryan Dzingel. Sorensen got in a few shots, but Dzingel won the bout. Dzingel received an extra two and the Sharks made him pay for it on the ensuing power play. Pavelski tipped Couture’s point shot past Anderson to put the Sharks up 4-0.

The Sens received a power play of their own just minutes later and Bobby Ryan thought he had scored. But the decision went to Toronto and they said no. (Gasp, a review actually went the Sharks’ way.) Vlasic managed to pull the puck off the goal line to keep it 4-0.

Tomas Hertl scored during the five minute power play the Sharks received after Burrows’s ejection.

Final score 5-0.

Game Notes:

• Logan Couture had a goal and two assists tonight. The assist on Joe Pavelski’s goal was his 400th career NHL point.
• Joe Thornton had an assist tonight. That’s 1,411 career points. Three behind Doug Gilmour (1,414) for 18th on the all-time list.
• Hard to believe but Thornton (5) has more goals this season than Brent Burns (2) and Erik Karlsson (1) combined.
• Brenden Dillon was back in the lineup after serving his one game suspension for slashing.
• Tim Heed was also back in the lineup after missing five games due to injury.