Nine Shots on Goal Is Enough for Sharks to Defeat Stars, 4-0

Mike Vernon got his first shutout of the season and the San Jose Sharks scored on almost half their shots in a 4-0 victory over the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night.

Vernon stopped 21 shots for his 19th career shutout as the Sharks won their second in a row after starting the season 0-6-2. Dallas fell to 6-2-2.

San Jose won despite getting outshot 21-9. The nine shots were the fewest in Sharks’ history and the fewest ever allowed by the Stars.

Patrick Marleau, Ron Sutter, Jeff Friesen and Mike Ricci scored for San Jose.

The Stars outshot the Sharks 10-3 in the first period, but San Jose did a better job of making its shots count against Dallas goalie Ed Belfour, who started with a 1.70 goals-against average.

Tampa Bay 5, Washington 2--Wendel Clark scored two goals as the Lightning extended the Capitals’ winless streak to five games.

Daren Puppa made 34 saves for the Lightning, who finished a four-game trip 2-2. It was the first Southeast Division victory for Tampa Bay, which had been 0-2-1 against division opponents.

Joe Juneau had a goal and an assist for the Capitals, who are 0-3-2 in the last five games. Washington is 3-5-3 overall, the first time in Coach Ron Wilson’s 93-game tenure that the team has slumped two games under .500.

Montreal 4, New York Rangers 1--Mark Recchi scored the tiebreaking goal and assisted on another as the Canadiens beat the goal-starved Rangers at New York.

The Rangers have only three goals in their last four games and 18 goals in 12 games this season--second worst in the league to the Capitals, who have 16 in 10 games.

New York is 3-2-3 in its last eight games after losing for the second straight night. The Canadiens, who have outscored the Rangers 11-2 in their two games this season, stopped a four-game winless streak (0-3-1).

Toronto 3, Colorado 0--Curtis Joseph got his first shutout of the season and first regular-season victory over the Avalanche as the Maple Leafs won at Toronto.

Joseph, who played for St. Louis and Edmonton before signing with Toronto in the off-season, stopped 24 shots for his 20th career shutout. He had been 0-11-1 against the Avalanche in the regular season.

Florida 2, Chicago 1--Bill Lindsay intercepted a blind clearing pass and beat goaltender Mark Fitzpatrick with 2:16 left to give the Panthers a victory at Sunrise, Fla.

Edmonton 3, Nashville 2--Josef Beranek scored 26 seconds into the game and assisted on another goal as the Oilers extended their home winning streak to four games and improved to 7-3 in their last 10 games. The expansion Predators fell to 0-4-1 on the road.