Marleau ties Howe for NHL games played record, Sharks lose to Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Patrick Marleau played his 1,767th game and tied
Gordie Howe
for the most in NHL history in the San Jose Sharks' 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

Marleau, who was plus-1 in 14:16 of ice time, can break the NHL record by playing game No. 1,768 when the Sharks visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday.
"You want things to be going well, you want your team winning at all times, regardless of milestones or not," Marleau said. "It'd be nice to get back on track and feeling good about ourselves as a club. We've shown at times some pretty good hockey, the right way to play. we have to make sure we do that for a full 60 [minutes]. ...
"When you get recognized like that, not only your team standing up for you but the other building's fans cheering for you, the other team doing it, it hits home. It's definitely humbling for them to show their support for me."

Mats Zuccarello had a goal and an assist and was one of 12 players to score at least one point for the Wild (27-13-3), who swept the back-to-back set and have won three in a row, including 3-2 here on Friday.
Kaapo Kahkonen made 26 saves in his first start since a 9-1 loss at the St. Louis Blues on April 9.
"It was a great team effort by everybody up and down our lineup by scoring great goals and playing great defense in front, making it really easy for me," Kahkonen said.
Brent Burns and Joel Kellman scored for the Sharks (18-22-4), who have lost five consecutive games and six of seven. Martin Jones allowed five goals on 24 shots and was pulled after the second period. Josef Korenar made four saves in the third.
"It's disappointing to play a game like that any night," Burns said. "Obviously, what [Marleau's] doing is special and it's beyond one game. Tonight's big for him, and for all of us to be a part of something like that, it's incredible. It's bigger than one game. What he's doing is incredible. It's disappointing to be a part of that game anytime."
The Wild are in third place in the eight-team Honda West Division, 12 points ahead of the fourth-place Arizona Coyotes. The Sharks are in sixth, five points behind the Coyotes. The top four teams will qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Burns scored his first goal since March 5 to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 12:02 of the first period.
Minnesota responded with three goals in 1:12.
Zuccarello tied it 1-1 on the power play at 14:35 with his 10th goal of the season, and Joel Eriksson Ek made it 2-1 at 15:11.
Zach Parise scored for a third straight game to give the Wild a 3-1 lead at 15:47.
"The goals against in succession, they're happening too quick back-to-back together, instead of regrouping and holding them to just that one," Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. "We're making the big mistakes right now that end up in the back of our net."
The Wild's fourth line of Parise, Nico Sturm and Nick Bonino has combined for 12 points (six goals, six assists) in the past three games.
"We're all competitive guys and we want to win and want to be productive," Parise said. "You want to earn more ice time and you want to force the coach to play you more because you're playing well. We have had a good stretch the last few games with the three of us."

Kirill Kaprizov scored his 17th goal of the season with a one-timer in front to make it 4-1 at 1:14 of the second period.
Sturm made it 5-1 on a wraparound at 19:11.
Kellman scored at 17:45 of the third period for the 5-2 final.
"Pretty good all-around game, except probably I don't know five, six minutes there in the second period where you know they're going to have a push and we kind of fed into that with a few turnovers as well," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "But for the most part, we were happy with the group."
NOTES: Marleau has played in four decades: 196 games in the 1990s, 716 in the 2000s, 782 in the 2010s and 73 in the 2020s. Maple Leafs forward Joe Thornton (173 games) and Washington Capitals defenseman Zdeno Chara (119) are the other active players to play in the NHL during the 1990s. … Kaprizov tied Marian Gaborik for the most points in a season by a Wild rookie (36). … Zuccarello has scored four goals in the past three games. … Parise scored his 400th point with Minnesota and has scored six points (four goals, two assists) in the past six games. … Wild forward Marcus Foligno scored his 200th NHL point with an assist on Eriksson Ek's goal. Foligno has played 591 NHL games.