Meier has goal, assist for Sharks in victory against Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Timo Meier had a goal and an assist for the San Jose Sharks in a 4-1 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday.

Logan Couture and Rudolfs Balcers each had two assists, and James Reimer made 26 saves for the Sharks (8-6-1) who had lost two straight and four of five.
"That was one of our better road games of the year," San Jose coach Bob Boughner said. "We talked about getting back to what makes us successful, our identity and grinding out wins. It was a complete team win. I thought every line gave us something tonight; I thought all the 'D' that played were excellent and we had good goaltending. … We came out ready to play a solid road game."
Joel Eriksson Ek scored, and Cam Talbot made 17 saves for the Wild (10-5-0), who had won five of six.
"We lose 4-1, there's not a lot of guys that played well," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. "… You could go right through the roster, obviously, and you could pick and choose, but on a whole we did not have a good night."

Mario Ferraro one-timed a pass from Couture on a 2-on-1 rush to give San Jose a 1-0 lead at 5:55 of the first period. Meier scored off a loose puck in front to make it 2-0 at 19:16.
"Overall, today was a solid team performance and so that definitely helps individually," Meier said. "We're working as units of five on the ice and that's how we had success tonight."
Eriksson Ek cut it to 2-1 at 5:25 of the second period with a toe-drag and wrist shot that went five-hole on Reimer.
Playing 4-on-4, Karlsson shot off the crossbar from the circle to increase the lead to 3-1 at 9:32.

Tomas Hertl made it 4-1 with a one-timer at the doorstep at 9:25 of the third period.
"I think we did respond, and we did see an effort that was wasted in the first," Wild forward Marcus Foligno said. "… We did a good job of saying, 'Hey, let's get going,' and battling our way back. We could have easily tied it up, and that 4-on-4, we'd like to have that one back, but it is what it is, and we got to understand that when you don't have it, you've got to play smart, you got to play simple and wait for your feet to get underneath you."
NOTES: Meier has scored 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in 10 games this season. Only two other players in Sharks history have scored more points in their first 10 games of a season: Owen Nolan (17 points in 1999-2000) and Joe Thornton (16 in 2005-06, 15 in 2010-11, 15 in 2009-10). … San Jose went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and leads the NHL at 90.2 percent (37-for-41).