SAN JOSE, Calif. -- For the Minnesota Wild, it was the perfect way to end a three-game road trip. For the San Jose Sharks, it's suddenly a critical point in their season.

Left winger Zach Parise broke a scoreless tie early in the third period and the Minnesota Wild extended the San Jose Sharks' losing streak to six games with a 2-0 win on Saturday night at SAP Center.

Parise scored his team-leading ninth goal of the season at 4:41 when he was isolated one-on-one against San Jose goalie Martin Jones with Sharks defensemen Brent Burns and Paul Martin out of the play.

Parise controlled a pass from teammate Mikael Granlund and scored on a forehand rebound over Jones' right pad. Miika Koivu added an empty-net goal -- his fifth of the season -- with 33.6 seconds remaining.

"I kind of felt them trying to go up ice and tried to be a little opportunistic and get to the front of the net," Parise said. "Granlund made a really good play to find me in front."

Wild backup goalie Darcy Kuemper stopped 25 shots to post his first shutout of the season and the sixth of his career.

"It was a gutsy effort by all of the guys," Kuemper said. "It's always tough these back-to-back games against a fresh team. We mustered up all the energy we could and played hard all night."

San Jose's best chance in the third period came when Mike Brown lost the handle on a mini-breakaway at 2:40 after taking a pass from Dainius Zubrus as the Sharks broke into the Minnesota zone two-on-one.

"We didn't get enough bodies to the net, but we didn't get enough pucks to the net either," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "They did a good job of clogging passing lanes and shooting lanes."

Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said, "We never got to the goalie. It was one of those games where there wasn't much room out there. We didn't create enough to get a couple."

The Sharks, who dropped out of a playoff spot and into fourth place in the Pacific Division, play their next five games on the road. San Jose fell to 4-9 at home.

"We were at a critical stage and went on the road the last time for a long trip and found a way," DeBoer said. "We'll regroup here. It's not all bad."

The Wild outshot the Sharks 10-7 in the second period, but the game remained scoreless through 40 minutes.

San Jose managed two shots on an early-period power play -- Koivu tripped left winger Patrick Marleau -- but Kuemper was up to task. Burns was stoned on a 12-foot blast from the slot and Kuemper denied defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic from the right point.

The Sharks had an opportunity with a two-on-one at 17:12, but left winger Melker Karlsson couldn't get his stick on center Chris Tierney's feed in the goal crease.

"We can break it down any way you want," DeBoer said. "They made some mistakes we didn't capitalize on and they capitalized on one and that was the hockey game."

The Sharks stormed the Wild during the opening four minutes, taking four of the game's first five shots on goal, but couldn't finish. From that point, the Wild controlled the scoreless first period.

"I'm tired so I can imagine what they feel like," Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said. "I thought the second period we were stretching our shifts out a little bit. I thought the guys had a real conscious effort in the third period to have real short shifts. It felt like as long as we had energy then we were in a good position. That discipline paid off in the third."

NOTES: The Sharks are without C Logan Couture for an undetermined length of time. He suffered a right thigh injury that required surgery on Thursday to repair arterial bleeding. Couture isn't expected to be out long term, and the latest injury is not related to the broken right fibula that cost him to miss 23 games. He was injured again midway through the second game of his return. ... Minnesota G Darcy Kuemper made his third straight start as starter Devan Dubnyk remained home from the three-game trip to rest his groin injury and spend more time with a newborn son. ... Couture's absence and San Jose's five-game losing streak prompted coach Peter DeBoer to made dramatic changes to the team's forward lines, headlined by splitting Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski for the first time this season. ... D Marc-Edouard Vlasic returned to the San Jose blue line after missing three games - all losses - with a lower-body injury. ... Rookie C Ryan Carpenter made his NHL debut after getting promoted from San Jose's AHL affiliate while previously injured C Ben Smith (concussion) was sent to the Barracuda on a conditioning assignment. ... Minnesota next hosts Vancouver on Tuesday. ... San Jose's lone healthy scratch was D Matt Tennyson while D Tyson Strachan did not dress for Minnesota.