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National Hockey League
San Jose 5, Minnesota 2
When: 10:30 PM ET, Thursday, December 22, 2022
Where: SAP Center at San Jose, San Jose, California
Referees: Ghislain Hebert, Jordan Samuels-Thomas
Linesmen: Kiel Murchison, Travis Toomey
Attendance: 13128

Erik Karlsson had a goal and three assists and James Reimer made 24 saves to lead the San Jose Sharks to a 5-2 victory over the visiting Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.

It was the third four-point game of the season for Karlsson, who leads all NHL defensemen with 46 points.

Timo Meier had a goal and an assist and Noah Gregor, Oskar Lindblom and Kevin Labanc also scored goals for San Jose, which snapped a three-game losing streak with just its fourth regulation win in 19 home games this season.

Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello scored goals for Minnesota, which had its season-best, six-game winning streak snapped. Filip Gustavsson stopped 20 of 24 shots while having a personal six-game winning streak come to an end.

Karlsson needed just 44 seconds to give San Jose a 1-0 lead with his 13th goal of the season. He extended his personal point streak to nine games when he slapped in a Jaycob Megna pass into an open net.

Minnesota tied it at the 2:20 mark of the opening period on a breakaway goal by Eriksson Ek, his 12th tally of the season.

San Jose regained the lead later in the period when Gregor backhanded a rebound of a Karlsson shot into an open net for his second goal of the season.

The Sharks then took advantage of a five-minute major on Wild forward Mason Shaw for kneeing Evgeny Svechnikov along the boards midway through the second period. San Jose extended its lead to 3-1 as Meier scored his 18th goal of the season on a slap shot through traffic from the top of the left circle.

Lindblom then made it 4-1 just as the penalty expired when he tapped in a backdoor rebound of a Karlsson shot for his second goal of the season.

The Wild cut it to 4-2 with just six seconds left in the middle period. Zuccarello fired a wrist shot from the left circle off a Kirill Kaprizov feed over Reimer's shoulder for his 15th goal of the season.

Labanc sealed the win with a power-play empty-netter with 13.5 seconds remaining, his eighth goal of the season.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Minnesota   San Jose
Joel Eriksson Ek 1 Points Erik Karlsson 4
Joel Eriksson Ek 1 Goals Erik Karlsson 1
Matt Boldy 1 Assists Erik Karlsson 3
N/A Power Play Goals Timo Meier 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Filip Gustavsson .833 Save Percentage James Reimer .923
Filip Gustavsson 20 Saves James Reimer 24
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Minnesota 26 2 0-4 4-6 28 28
San Jose 25 5 2-6 4-4 13 29
Upcoming Games
  • San Jose will play their next game on the road against Vancouver. The Sharks have a W/L % of .300 after a win and .320 after a loss.
  • Minnesota will play their next game on the road against Winnipeg. The Wild have a W/L % of .600 after a win and .538 after a loss.