Stamkos has two goals, assist for Lightning in win against Sharks

TAMPA -- Steven Stamkos scored two goals and had an assist for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 6-3 win against the San Jose Sharks at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

Victor Hedman had a goal and an assist, and Nikita Kucherov had two assists for the Lightning (37-10-2), who won for the fifth time in their past eight games. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves.
"We knew we wanted to bounce back," Stamkos said, referring to a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. "We were kind of happy with the way how the schedule worked out (before a 10-day break) that we were playing Toronto and San Jose, two top-tier teams in this league. … We thought we played OK against Toronto and maybe deserved a little better fate. Tonight, we knew we had to come in and get a win. It wasn't always pretty. Vasilevskiy] was there big for us and made some big saves and kind of kept it close, and we got a couple of power-play goals, and we were able to kind of shut it down in the third."
***[WATCH: [All Sharks vs. Lightning highlights]*
Evander Kane scored two goals for the Sharks (28-15-7), who have lost two games in a row after winning their previous seven, including a 5-2 victory against the Lightning on Jan. 5 that ended Tampa Bay's 16-game point streak. Martin Jones made 20 saves in his first loss in nine starts.
"We were all right at times, we had a lot of chances," San Jose captain Joe Pavelski said. "Can't give up six, but it got a little bit away from us at the end there. We definitely had a chance in this game."
Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson was scratched with an undisclosed injury after leaving the ice during warmups.
"He's been dealing with something for a little while here, and he felt that he was going to be able to play through and just couldn't," San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said.
Yanni Gourde put the Lightning ahead 3-2 at 7:29 of the second period after Stamkos' shot from the left face-off circle caromed off the end boards to him below the right circle. It was his first goal in 10 games dating to Dec. 29.

"They haven't been going in for me recently, but it was really good to finally get that goal," Gourde said. "It was important for us to get the momentum back after that loss to Toronto."
Hedman made it 4-2 with a power-play goal at 12:01. He took a pass from Kucherov just outside the Sharks blue line, skated in alone, and scored from the top of the left hash marks.
Stamkos made it 5-2 with a wrist shot from above the left hash marks at 5:08 of the third period, and then scored his 26th goal of the season with a one-timer from the left circle on the power play to make it 6-2 at 14:15.

"He's shooting the puck," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "When he's shooting, it just plays into his skill set, and then you see the confidence build."
Marcus Sorensen scored for San Jose with 37 seconds left for the 6-3 final score.
Mathieu Joseph gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 3:32 of the first period when he scored on the rebound of an Anthony Cirelli shot.
Alex Killorn made it 2-0 with an unassisted goal at 17:51.
Kane made it 2-1 with 21 seconds left in the first with a power-play goal from the low slot off a pass from Timo Meier. He tied it 2-2 58 seconds into the second period.
"We had a good first period, had a lot of time in their zone, and obviously tied it in the second," Kane said. "Every time they had an opportunity, it ended up in the back of our net."

They said it

"We'll see how he feels tomorrow. I don't have a full report on what it is. We're not going to risk anything with him, obviously. If he can play without risking long-term injury, then we will. But we're not going to rest him just to rest him." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer on whether defenseman Erik Karlsson will return to the lineup Monday at the Florida Panthers after he left warmups and was scratched against the Lightning with an undisclosed injury
"Today was the result we wanted. We're a happy team going into the (10-day) break. … We want to be a team that bounces back after losses. For us to do that, like you said, [11-1-0 coming off a loss] is a pretty good record. Obviously proud of the guys that we have here that we were able to kind of refocus right away and bounce back." -- Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman on their response to a 4-2 loss to the Maple Leafs on Thursday

Need to know

Karlsson missed practice Friday for what DeBoer called a maintenance day. ... Sharks defenseman Brent Burns had seven shots on goal and 13 shot attempts, each a game high. … It is the ninth time in 11 NHL seasons that Stamkos has scored at least 25 goals. … Stamkos has three goals and seven assists in a six-game point streak. ... Kucherov leads the NHL with 56 assists and 78 points. … Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak had seven hits and three blocked shots.

What's next

Sharks: At the Florida Panthers on Monday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, FS-F, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)
Lightning: At the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 30 (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS)