Johansson makes 23 saves, Stamkos has goal and assist, and Lightning hammer Sharks 6-0

By MARK DIDTLER
Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jonas Johansson made 23 saves for his second consecutive shutout, Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning hammered the winless San Jose Sharks 6-0 on Thursday night.

Tampa Bay also got goals from Brayden Point, Michael Eyssimont, Brandon Hagel, Nicholas Paul and Luke Glendening.

“These are games that hopefully build some confidence in what you want to achieve going forward,” Stamkos said. “Work on some system things. We’ve been talking a lot about some changes we’ve made, and this was a game that, four or five- nothing kind of halfway through the game, you just don’t want to cheat out there. And I thought we did a good job of sticking to our structure.”

San Jose goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, under constant siege, was pulled at 7:29 of the second after allowing five goals on 21 mostly quality shots.

The Sharks have opened the season at 0-6-1. Dating to a 7-2 win at Arizona last Apr. 1, San Jose is winless in 13 games (0-11-2).

“We’ve just got to play with more of a competitive edge to our game,” Sharks coach David Quinn said before the game. “I mean, just because you are around a battle doesn’t mean you’re in the battle. There’s a big, big difference. We have to play with more freakin’ attitude if we’re going to be successful and generate more offense and spend less time in our end.”

San Jose has eight goals in its seven games, scoring more than one just once.

“Not good, not good at all,” Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said. “We weren’t hard enough to play against. Too much time and space for them. We’re not happy about that one. There’s nothing positive to take. It’s the NHL, no one’s going to do us any favors.”

Johansson, filling in for the injured Andrei Vasilevskiy, had 32 saves in a 3-0 win Tuesday over Carolina.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper said Vasilevskiy (back surgery) is doing light skating like “a Christmas skate” and is expected back in late November.

Stamkos made it 3-0 during a 5-on-3 power play with 42 seconds left in the first. Stamkos tied Dale Hawerchuk for 39th place on the all-time goals list with 518. The captain has 196 power-play goals, which is one away from tying Jarome Iginla for 21st place.

Stamkos also tied Ray Whitney for 71st all-time with 1,064 points. After going two games without a shot on goal, the Lightning captain took 11 shots with one on goal.

Tampa Bay had 79 shot attempts, compared to 41 for the Sharks.

Veteran San Jose defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic was a healthy scratch for the second straight game.

UP NEXT

Sharks: Play Friday night at Carolina.

Lightning: Host Seattle on Monday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL