San Jose Sharks vs Montreal Canadiens knee-jerk reaction

Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

If not for Logan Couture, the San Jose Sharks would have gone another game without a goal. They went several consecutive periods in a row—dating back to the game against the Detroit Red Wings—without finding the back of the net. Couture was the only Shark to score tonight, and his first stood up as the game winner.

The second was a gift goal, and but at this point the Sharks will take it.

This is how the NHL ebbs and flows. It’s why controlling the highs and lows is so important: you can’t score four goals in every game, and everything that you throw at the net isn’t always going to go in. San Jose’s offense has suddenly dried up a bit, but they’re still finding ways to get slashes in the win column.

That’s a difference that’s worth noting between these Sharks and 2012-13’s version. Those Sharks buckled under a bit of adversity and went cold. Tonight San Jose got by on Couture’s hard work and a little luck.

Oh. And some outstanding goaltending by Antti Niemi. He made 22 saves and the defense did a pretty good job and keeping the smallish Habs to the outside during their spurts of offense. All told, not a particularly electric game again. It felt a lot like the Boston game in that the Sharks had a lot of pressure early, but weren’t able to cash in.

Because of that, the game was closer than maybe it should have been until Couture’s fluke second marker.