Subban breaks tie in third period for Devils in win against Sharks

NEWARK, N.J. --P.K. Subban broke a tie in the third period for the New Jersey Devils in a 2-1 win against the San Jose Sharks at Prudential Center on Thursday.

Jesper Bratt scored, Nikita Gusev had two assists, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 36 saves to win his fifth straight for the Devils (23-27-10), who are 6-3-3 in their past 12 games.
Blackwood, who has allowed five goals during the streak, is 6-0-1 in his past seven starts.
"It's just hard work," Blackwood said. "I'm fortunate to practice with goalie coach Roland Melanson] and be able to work on my game. He's technically great, so he's helped me with my game, and I think I've been fortunate that we've been getting the results.
"Some days the results are good and some days they are bad, but the process has remained the same."
***[WATCH: [All Sharks vs. Devils highlights]*
Subban scored his second power-play goal of the season on a snap shot through a screen from the top of the right face-off circle for a 2-1 lead at 2:56.
"I'm happy to contribute in a way that helps our team win. I've never been a guy in my career that just looks as the numbers," Subban said. "I want meaningful points and to produce when the game's on the line and when things matter. Today I was in that position to shoot a puck and it went in for me."
Tim Heed scored, and Martin Jones made 23 saves for the Sharks (26-30-4), who had won four of six.

Heed scored his first goal of the season when his slap shot from the right point deflected off a skate in the slot for a 1-0 lead at 7:22 of the first period.
"They are a skilled team and we just kind of limited their time and space with the puck," Heed said. "We gave up that goal at the end of the second and Blackwood played well. We only scored one goal, so we need to score more goals, but we created some chances."
Bratt took a stretch pass from Pavel Zacha at the Sharks blue line and scored on a breakaway to tie it 1-1 at 16:15 of the second period.

"It was a good response by Bratt tonight [after he was a healthy scratch in a 3-0 loss at the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday]," Devils coach Alain Nasreddine said. "It was a great play from a breakout and a good stretch pass by [Zacha]. Bratt has that move and did a great job; his speed created that breakaway and it was a really nice goal."

They said it

"I think we played hard. I think we took too many penalties (seven) and put a lot of pressure on ourselves that way. Those are the games where you sort of see the lack of offense, that lack of skill that is out of our lineup. You can get by some nights with a power-play goal or a couple of bounces, but on nights like this you don't have those guys who chip in those one or two extra pucks a night." -- Sharks coach Bob Boughner
"The [Washington Capitals] are going to be looking for [Alex Ovechkin] to get his 700th goal on Saturday. For us, we're going to have to defend the same way whether he's at 699 or 750. We've got to take him away at even strength and the power play. We're going to make some adjustments but obviously he's a dangerous player." -- Devils coach Alain Nasreddine

Need to know

Sharks defenseman Brent Burns had his six-game point streak end. He had four shots on goal and four blocked shots in 25:23. ... San Jose was playing without four of its top six scorers: defenseman Erik Karlsson (thumb), and forwards Logan Couture (ankle), Tomas Hertl (knee) and Evander Kane (suspended). Kane served the final game of a three-game suspension for elbowing Winnipeg Jets defenseman Neal Pionk on Feb. 14. ... The Sharks played their first game since trading defenseman Brenden Dillon to the Capitals on Wednesday. … Devils center Nico Hischier was 8-for-13 (62 percent) on face-offs in his 200th NHL game. ... Devils defenseman Damon Severson played a game-high 27:12. … Defenseman Dakota Mermis was plus-1 and had three shots on goal in 17:44 in his Devils debut.

What's next

Sharks: At the New York Rangers on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, MSG, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)
Devils:Host the Washington Capitals on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; MSG+, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)