Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, and Timo Meier each had a goal and an assist, and James Reimer finished with 25 saves as the San Jose Sharks held on to beat the Dallas Stars, 5-4, on Friday to snap a five-game losing streak.
Alexander Barabanov and Evgeny Svechnikov also scored for the Sharks, who earned their first win at American Airlines Center in Dallas since Feb. 19, 2015, breaking a streak of seven straight losses.
With the game tied 2-2 at the start of the second period, Meier and Couture scored even-strength goals 36 seconds apart to help the Sharks take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Hertl then scored just 29 seconds into the third period after a nice pass from Meier, as he beat Stars goalie Jake Oettinger from in close to give the Sharks a 5-2 lead.
The Sharks had a combined seven shots on net in the second and third periods and scored on three of them.
The Stars roared back with goals from Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski to cut the Sharks’ lead to 5-4. Pavelski’s goal, his seventh of the season, came with 7:54 left in the third period and narrowed San Jose’s advantage to one.
Reimer, though, made four saves in the final seven minutes as the Sharks hung on for their first win since Oct. 27, when they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3 in overtime.
The Sharks were coming off of a 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night which dropped their record to 3-9-3 for an NHL-worst .300 points percentage.
After offense had been such an issue through the first three weeks of the regular season, the Sharks have now scored three or more goals in seven straight games.
The Sharks continue their road trip Sunday afternoon in Minnesota against the Wild.
Meier now has goals in five straight games as he also extended his point streak to seven games.
Couture also fought his counterpart, Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn, in the second period after he leveled Ty Dellandrea with a hit near the Sharks’ blue line. The fight was brief and not many punches were thrown, but the five-minute major gave the Sharks captain his first career Gordie Howe hat trick in 14 NHL seasons — with a goal, an assist, and a fight.
Benn scored twice for Dallas in the first period.
The Sharks outplayed the Stars for most of the first period, but the two teams were tied 2-2 after Benn scored his second of the game with 21 seconds left before intermission.
Benn carried the puck into the Sharks’ zone and passed it toward the middle of the ice. Erik Karlsson briefly had the puck but had it knocked away by Dellandrea before Benn scooped it up and beat Reimer for his sixth goal of the season.
