Dell, Sharks shut out Senators

SAN JOSE -- Backup Aaron Dell made 25 saves for second shutout of the season, and the San Jose Sharks defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-0 at SAP Center on Saturday.

Logan Couture scored in the first period and had two assists in the third, giving him 401 points in 531 NHL games.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Melker Karlsson, Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl scored for the Sharks (16-10-2), who won their second straight game and for the fifth time in seven.
WATCH: [All Senators vs. Sharks highlights]
"We scored 10 goals in the last two games and given up four," Couture said. "We're playing well. Tonight was one of our better efforts of the season."
The Senators (9-12-7) lost their fourth straight game and are 1-9-2 in their past 12. Ottawa was shut out for the third time in four games.
"I think obviously right now we're not playing the way that we want to, we're not feeling the way we want to, and we're trying to find a way out of the rut that we're in," Ottawa captain Erik Karlsson said. "And sometimes when that happens you start overthinking stuff and making decisions that you don't want to make."
Craig Anderson made 45 saves and lost his seventh straight game. San Jose had a season-high 50 shots to 25 for Ottawa.
The Sharks trailed 3-0 in the first period but defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 in overtime here Thursday.

"It was an important game for us," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "I thought we really wanted to concentrate on having a good start. Obviously last game, getting down 3-0 early against Carolina wasn't the way we wanted to start here at home. I thought we fixed that tonight."
Couture gave San Jose a 1-0 lead at 12:55 of the first period with his 15th goal of the season. He took a pass from Kevin Labanc on a rush and beat Anderson with a wrist shot from the left circle.
San Jose extended its lead to 2-0 at 5:31 of the second period when Vlasic beat Anderson with a slap shot from the right point.
The Sharks made it 3-0 at 14:41 of the second period on Karlsson's fifth goal of the season, second in two games. Joe Pavelski passed from below the goal line to Karlsson in front, and he scored on a snap shot.
Dell is 5-3-1 this season after his third NHL shutout. Martin Jones expected to start against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.
"He's been great every time he goes in the net," Vlasic said of Dell. "We have a lot of confidence in him, and he has confidence when he goes in. He doesn't play as much as [Jones] does, but when he's in it's like he's there every night."
Pavelski deflected Couture's shot to make it 4-0 at 3:24 of the third period, and Hertl scored a power-play goal at 17:38.
"Another bad game by us," Senators forward Mark Stone said. "We've got to find a way to get out of it. The bottom line is, you can't keep playing like this and expect to win. We're going to find a way. It's just a matter of how, and we've got to find that way."

Goal of the game

Vlasic's goal at 5:31 of the second period.

Video: OTT@SJS: Vlasic blasts slap shot past Anderson

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Save of the game

Dell's save on Zack Smith at 5:30 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Couture's goal at 12:55 of the first period.

They said it

"The guys are ready to come out, but we knew this was a difficult place to play. The first period is usually really hard here, and you've got to weather it. And the way you've got to weather it is you've got to stay out of the box and you've got to avoid the turnovers, and those are the two things that we didn't avoid right off the bat, and it killed us." -- Senators coach Guy Boucher
"We were really firing on all cylinders tonight. I think we tired them out early, and we just kind of kept taking it to them all night." -- Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell

Need to know

Sharks defenseman Paul Martin (ankle) was sent to the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League on a conditioning assignment after struggling Thursday against the Hurricanes in his first game since Oct. 7. ... Sharks defenseman Tim Heed (upper body) returned after missing five games. ... Senators defenseman Fredrik Claesson was scratched for the third straight game. ... Sharks defenseman Dylan DeMelo left the game at 14:51 of the third period after being hit by Senators forward Alexandre Burrows, who got a game misconduct.

What's next

Senators: At the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, TSN5, RDS, NHL.TV)
Sharks: Host the Minnesota Wild on Sunday (9 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, FS-N+, NHL.TV)