SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Sharks kept their perfect record intact Saturday night with a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators, but they had to finish the game with an apparently injured Tomas Hertl out of the lineup.
The 19-year-old Sharks rookie was cutting into the slot in front of the Ottawa goal late in the second period when he seemed to awkwardly collide with Senators forward Clarke MacArthur. Hertl did not return the rest of the game, with the team saying only that he was "under evaluation."
Hertl notched his NHL-leading seventh goal of the season to open the scoring just 55 seconds into the game, but it was a third-period goal by Brent Burns that proved to be the winner 7:08 into the period.
The Sharks, who reached the 50-shot mark for the second straight home game, also got a power-play goal from Patrick Marleau and 21 saves by goalie Antti Niemi in winning their fifth straight game. Zack Smith and Bobby Ryan scored for the Senators.
The play that sent Hertl to the locker room didn't appear to be a dangerous one, but the Sharks rookie hurriedly left the ice, dropping his stick and gloves in the Ottawa zone where they remained for some time.
Hertl showed early that he wasn't ready to go two consecutive games without a point when he hopped on a rebound of Dan Boyle's shot and beat Ottawa backup netminder Robin Lehner just 55 seconds into the game.
That was San Jose's fifth shot of the game at that point and it looked as if the Sharks might be going to dominate a team at home once again. But the Senators worked their way back into the contest, tying the score when a bouncing puck landed on Smith's stick and he beat Niemi through traffic at 15:21.
Then with Andrew Desjardins in the penalty box for high sticking, Ryan took a perfect cross-ice pass from Ottawa captain Jason Spezza and buried it to give the Senators a 2-1 lead. That left the Sharks trailing at the end of a period for the first time since opening night.
Ottawa controlled play early in the second period, but momentum shifted in the Sharks' favor midway through with the Sharks (5-0) getting 10 of 11 shots at one point.
A tripping penalty to former Shark Milan Michalek gave San Jose its first power play of the night at 15:10 and Marleau got his fourth goal of the season 62 seconds later when he used his backhand to lift a rebound of Matt Irwin's shot over Lehner.
Without Hertl, Sharks coach Todd McLellan shifted his other rookie, Matt Nieto, onto the line with Joe Thornton and Burns.
San Jose didn't score on an early power play, but one second after another expired, Thornton threw the puck to Burns just outside the crease and he fired it past Lehner.
- Ottawa reporters always find their way to Logan Couture because he was a popular player there with the 67s in his junior hockey days.
"Yeah, I miss the city," he told them. "It's going to be fun going back there again this year."
There was also serious interest in Couture's Olympic ambitions after being invited to Team Canada's orientation camp last summer.
"I'm just focused on having a good start with this team, and we've done that so far," he said of the Sharks. "The better the team plays, the better each individual plays, so we're focused on trying to continue this thing we've got going here and we'll go from there."
- Spezza returned to action after missing one game with a nagging groin problem.
- Tyler Kennedy had much success against Ottawa in his six seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins before coming to San Jose with 11 goals and 16 points in 20 games.
