Bonino helps Wild send Sharks to fourth straight loss

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Nick Bonino had a goal and an assist for the Minnesota Wild in a 3-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at Xcel Energy Center on Friday.

Zach Parise and Mats Zuccarello scored for Minnesota (26-13-3), which has won two games in a row and is 3-1-1 in its past five. Cam Talbot made 20 saves.
The Wild's fourth line of Parise, Nico Sturm and Bonino has combined for nine points (four goals, five assists) in the past two games.
"They aren't a fourth line," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. "They played great. ...They're giving us a real boost, for sure.
"I mean, clearly it's an asset to have the depth. … There's no question when you can just roll, and guys are trusting and making those changes at the proper time because they trust that their teammate coming out is going to have a good chance to get the job done as he is, it's a good feeling for the group, for sure."

Tomas Hertl and Evander Kane scored, and Martin Jones made 15 saves for San Jose (18-21-4), which has lost four straight and five of six.
The Sharks have not scored more than two goals in any of those losses.
"I thought we gave ourselves a chance to win," San Jose captain Logan Couture said. "I thought defensively we were pretty good. We didn't give up much, but there wasn't much out there offensively. But we've got to find a way to do more. We only scored one or two over the last three or four games, so we need to find some offense."
Sharks forward Patrick Marleau played his 1,766th NHL game, moving him within one of tying Gordie Howe for the most in NHL history. He was plus-1 with one hit in 15:29.
The teams will play again here Saturday.
The Wild are in third place in the eight-team Honda West Division, 11 points ahead of the fourth-place St. Louis Blues. The Sharks are in sixth, four points behind the Blues. The top four teams will qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Hertl made it 1-0 at 3:32 of the first period when he scored from the left face-off circle.

Bonino tied the game 1-1 when he scored off a loose puck in the slot at 9:30. He has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past two games.
"Sometimes you get the bounces, sometimes you don't," Bonino said. "I feel like for the most part [Sturm], [Parise] and myself, our game hasn't changed from Game One to now. The puck didn't go in as much as we would have liked probably the first little bit here, but just try to keep doing the right things and getting rewarded for it now. So it always feels good."
Zuccarello put Minnesota ahead 2-1 at 2:15 of the second period after a face-off win.
Parise scored off tic-tac-toe passing with Bonino and Matt Dumba to make it 3-1 at 3:20. Parise has five points (three goals, two assists) in his past five games.
Kane scored shorthanded on a breakaway at 14:33 of the third period to make it 3-2.
"[Kane's] had a good year for us," Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. "He's a guy that always seems to have legs and brings that every night. He plays fast, and I think that's an advantage for him. … I think he was ready to play, he was good all night.
"I think all in all we had a tough couple shifts with our fourth line on the ice, and it hurt us a little bit, but at the end of the day, we played a pretty good road game."
NOTES:San Jose defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic had an assist and three shots on goal in 16:37 in his first game back after missing the previous five with an upper-body injury. … It was the Wild's 16th win at home this season, third in the NHL behind the New York Islanders and Colorado Avalanche, who each have 18. …Talbot is 10-1-0 at home.