Reimer leads Sharks past Coyotes

SAN JOSE -- The San Jose Sharks' trade for goaltender James Reimer continued paying dividends at SAP Center on Sunday.
Reimer had a 25-save shutout, and the Sharks defeated the Arizona Coyotes 3-0, winning for the fourth time in five games.

Reimer, who made his fourth start in place of No. 1 goaltender Martin Jones since coming to San Jose from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 27, had his second shutout of the season, each with the Sharks; he made 31 saves in a 3-0 win against the Edmonton Oilers on March 8. Reimer is 3-1-0 with San Jose.
"He was really solid," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said of Reimer. "I thought we did a good job in front of him, letting him see most shots, but he made a couple big saves too at the right time. That's a great luxury to have, both guys playing the way they are right now."

Joel Ward scored his 20th goal for the Sharks in the first period, and Tomas Hertl had a power-play goal in the second. Joe Pavelski scored an empty-net goal with 1:05 remaining.
San Jose (41-25-6) moved within five points of the first-place Los Angeles Kings and one point of the second-place Anaheim Ducks in the Pacific Division.
"It's hard to take credit for that one tonight," Reimer said. "I thought our team played one of the better games I've seen them play in a long time, especially with it being a back-to-back. I thought they were up, they were skating, and they were outworking them. For me, it was just a matter of sitting back there and watching them do their thing."
Goaltender Mike Smith made 33 saves for the Coyotes (31-34-7), who were shut out for the second straight night; Arizona lost 2-0 against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Arizona is 11 points behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"Obviously it was a tough turnaround," Smith said. "We didn't have the start we wanted to. But we got going as the game wore on. We had some chances. When you are struggling to put the puck in the net, it seems it's a lot harder to get going
"It was one of those games where it was full of power plays and penalty kills. Our penalty kill did a pretty good job. Obviously the one that got through was a bad bounce. It was like a pinball goal. Unfortunate bounces for us."
Ward gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 18:28 of the first period, redirecting Brendon Dillon's wrist shot from the point past Smith. Ward's goal was his third in two games. He reached 20 goals for the second time in his career and is four shy of his career high set in 2013-2014 with the Washington Capitals.

Ward's goal came 59 seconds after the Sharks killed off the second of back-to-back power plays, including 39 seconds when Arizona had a 5-on-3 advantage. Sharks defenseman Justin Braun went to the penalty box at 14:07 for interference, and Patrick Marleau joined him at 15:29 for high sticking.
The Coyotes went 0-for-4 on the power play; they were 0-for-6 Saturday.
"It's one of those things that your PP has to be better, especially when you play the Sharks," Coyotes forward Shane Doan said. "They are going to get their opportunities. They have a great power play. We dropped the ball as a unit and we can't do that. We had decent chances. We're not executing, we're not making the simple play at times and sometimes those are the best plays.
"The 15-foot pass, but that has to be perfect tape to tape. It can't be bobbled, it makes you look slow and your power play look slow. That's what happened. We just have to find ways to be better. When we played them before we had some puck luck."

The Sharks extended their lead to 2-0 at 12:02 of the second period on Hertl's power-play goal. His shot from close range bounced off a defender and between Smith's pads. Hertl ended the Coyotes' streak of 18 penalty kills.
Brent Burns had an assist on Pavelski's goal, giving him 65 points for the season, a new Sharks franchise record for defensemen, passing Sandis Ozolinsh (1993-94).
"We felt like we were all over them, giving them no time and space," Reimer said. "We were just on our game. The last couple games, I think we've been playing really well. Hopefully we keep that going."
Doan played his 1,457th career game and tied Glen Wesley for 22nd on the NHL's all-time list.