Sharks, Canadiens battle to shore up postseason hopes
The San Jose Sharks aim to stay in the win column and strengthen their position in the Western Conference playoff race when they visit the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
The Sharks moved into the West's second wild-card spot on Thursday with a 4-2 road win against the Boston Bruins, who had previously won 13 straight on home ice.
San Jose forward William Eklund had the highlight-reel goal of the evening in the third period. His initial shot was stopped by Jeremy Swayman, but Eklund batted in his own rebound while he was falling to the ice for his first goal since Jan. 7.
"It's going to be like that during the season, and you've got to play through stuff," Eklund said. "You're not going to feel 100% every night. You've just got to push through it."
Macklin Celebrini tallied the primary helper on Tyler Toffoli's second-period goal to bring himself to 91 points (33 goals, 58 assists) in his second NHL season. Celebrini is on pace to join Pittsburgh Penguins legend Sidney Crosby as the only active NHL players to hit 100 points in a season before the age of 20.
Backup goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic made 39 saves.
"I felt like I was seeing the puck good," Nedeljkovic said. "Things were pretty clear out there. We were doing a good job of keeping guys out of the way early on, and if there was a rebound, we did a good job of tying up sticks or just clearing pucks right away. We were pretty solid in our own end for most of the night."
Meanwhile, the Canadiens are pushing to stay in good standing in the Eastern Conference. They have won three straight games and got an extra day of rest after beating the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Ivan Demidov scored the go-ahead goal at 12:40 of the third period to secure the road victory. Drake Batherson scored twice to give the Senators a 2-1 advantage in the first frame, but Jacob Fowler's 32 saves put the Habs in position to win.
"It was pretty hectic," said Fowler, a rookie who was making his 11th start (5-4-2). "A couple plays there that our guys on the ice were pretty gassed, and a lot of huge blocks there down the stretch, the last few minutes there. A lot of guys doing a lot of hard things there to get a win, and that's what it takes this time of year."
Captain Nick Suzuki has recorded a team-high 75 points (21 goals, 54 assists) for the Canadiens, who are third in the Atlantic Division. Sniper Cole Caufield (37 goals) missed the Ottawa game due to illness.
This is the teams' second and final meeting of the season. Defense fell by the wayside on March 3 when Celebrini racked up a goal and three assists in San Jose's 7-5 home victory.
Montreal is 18-11-2 at home this season, and San Jose is 14-16-1 on the road.