Goaltender Yaroslav Askarov turned aside 41 shots to guide the San Jose Sharks to a 6-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday. A three-goal surge in the middle frame pushed the Sharks ahead for good as they earned their second consecutive victory.
Ottawa opened the scoring at 6:16 of the first period when Tim Stutzle scored on a wrist shot with assists from Drake Batherson and Warren Foegele. Nolan Allan evened the game for San Jose at 11:04, beating Samuel Ersson on a snap shot set up by Dmitry Orlov.
The Sharks took control during the second period by scoring three times in a span of 4:05. Tyler Toffoli put San Jose in front at 9:13 on a power-play wrist shot assisted by Kiefer Sherwood and Jacob Trouba. Collin Graf added a shorthanded wrist goal at 12:00, and Trouba followed at 13:18 with an even-strength snap shot off a feed from Graf and Darnell Nurse to build a 4-1 lead.
Jordan Spence cut the deficit to 4-2 at 6:24 of the third period with his first goal of the season, assisted by Fabian Zetterlund and Nikolas Matinpalo. The Senators pulled Ersson late, but Zack Ostapchuk scored his first goal of the season into an empty net while shorthanded at 16:31. Ivar Stenberg capped the scoring with another empty-net goal at 19:43.
Askarov finished with 41 saves on 43 shots to earn the victory for San Jose, while Ersson stopped 22 of 26 shots for Ottawa. The Sharks finished 1-for-2 on the power play, scored twice while shorthanded, and killed off all three of Ottawa's power-play opportunities despite being outshot 43-28.
The win improved San Jose to 6-4-1 on the season with back-to-back victories. Ottawa moved to 7-4-0 overall following the defeat.
Both teams return to the ice on Saturday, October 24. The Sharks visit the Boston Bruins, while the Senators host the New York Rangers.
