Sharks win sixth straight, Karlsson scoreless against Senators

SAN JOSE --The San Jose Sharks won their season-high sixth straight game, 4-1 against the Ottawa Senators at SAP Center on Saturday.

San Jose (27-13-7) has the longest current winning streak in the NHL and is 13-2-2 in its past 17 games. Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns, Joe Thornton and Melker Karlsson scored, and Martin Jones made 27 saves for the Sharks.
"A while back, we were kind of talking our game was trending in the right direction," Pavelski said. "We started winning two and three in a row], and lately we've been able to turn three into four or five. If we lose a game, we've bounced right back and won the next couple. It's good to see because there are tough stretches. We went through one early in the year."
***[WATCH: [All Senators vs. Sharks highlights]*
Ryan Dzingel scored, and Anders Nilsson made 28 saves for Ottawa (17-24-5), which had won two straight road games, against the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings.
"They got two bad bounces on those first two goals, their shot from the corner hit our guy and went in and their shot from the top hit three guys and trickled in," Senators coach Guy Boucher said. "We didn't get those, and they got theirs.
"The Sharks are the team of the hour and they are stacked. To be able to hang in there with them was a positive for us."
Pavelski gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 17:57 of the second period with his team-leading 26th goal of the season. He scored on a wrist shot from the left face-off circle to the far side on a rush.
"It definitely took us a little bit to get going," Pavelski said. "Sometimes that's the case. We had five games in eight days here and against some good teams and some emotional wins and everything that goes along with it. You kind of get the lead and be able to play with that. We were able to do that because of [Jones]. He made some big saves."

Burns made it 2-0 at 6:17 of the third period with a wrist shot near the right boards through traffic, and Dzingel cut it to 2-1 at 6:44 with a wrist shot from the slot.
Thornton made it 3-1 at 15:43 when he knocked a loose puck into the net from close range, and Karlsson scored into an empty net at 18:39 for the 4-1 final.
"We were right there all night tonight," Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki said. "That's a really good team over there. They are really playing really well right now. We had some chances but missed our opportunities."
Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson did not have a point in his second game against his former team since being traded to San Jose on Sept. 13.

"It's always special," Karlsson said of playing the Senators. "It's still weird. It's probably going to be weird for as long as I play somewhere else. I think the boys in here were tired today. We did what we had to do to get away with a [win], and that's what it's all about."
Sharks forward Joonas Donskoi sustained an upper body injury in the first period. He returned for the final 2:15 of the period but did not play the final two periods. Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said he won't have an update on Donskoi until Sunday.

They said it

"On our West Coast trip, we did a lot of positive things. We're going to try to build off the whole trip. It felt good to get those two wins (against the Ducks and Kings)." -- Senators forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau
"It was a tough game. It was a tough scheduled game for us, I think five [games] in eight nights, an emotional game in Vegas. And [Ottawa] played hard. They play with a lot of structure. They make it hard to get through the neutral zone, so this was a game we had to really gut it out a little bit." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer

Need to know

Darren Archibald, who was acquired by the Senators along with Nilsson in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 2. He had one shot and one hit in 5:34 of ice time. … Senators forward Matt Duchene (paternity leave) missed his third straight game. … Sharks defenseman Justin Braun (knee) returned to the lineup after missing four games. He had an assist and blocked three shots in 18:33. … Jones has won seven consecutive starts, one shy of his career high he set in the first eight starts of his career from Dec. 3-21, 2013.

What's next

Senators:Host the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, ALT, NHL.TV)
Sharks:Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN1, NBCSCA, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)