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Sharks drop Wild for fourth straight win

Jan 23, 2011 - 7:33 AM San Jose, CA (Sports Network) - Devin Setoguchi tallied twice and Benn Ferriero scored the winner in the third period as San Jose topped Minnesota, 4-3, at HP Pavilion.

Logan Couture also scored and Patrick Marleau added two assists for the Sharks, who have taken four in a row. Antti Niemi earned the win with 23 saves.

"We're trying to be as consistent as we can," Couture said. "We're putting together better shifts back-to-back now."

Mikko Koivu picked up a pair of power-play scores for the Wild, whose three- game win streak came to an end. Niklas Backstrom allowed four goals on 42 shots in the loss.

San Jose moved ahead 4-2 at the 3:57 mark of the third period, as Joe Thornton gathered the puck between the circles and dished ahead for Ferriero, who waited until Backstrom moved for a pokecheck to slide the puck in.

Brent Burns then brought Minnesota within a goal at 16:35. Backstrom went to the bench for an extra skater with 1:05 to play, then was lifted again with 35 ticks left but the visitors had nothing left in the tank.

"Our execution wasn't great, and you have to give [San Jose] credit," Wild head coach Todd Richards said.

Couture opened the scoring with a wrister from the right wing at 11:33 of the first period, then Koivu countered for Minnesota less than two minutes later on a blistering shot from the right point.

Setoguchi put the Sharks back on top at 3:56 of the second period, when he followed up his own rebound and shoved it into a half-open net.

He tallied again at 6:36 on a power play with a chest-high deflection of a Joe Pavelski drive, but the Wild came within 3-2 at 7:27 on a Koivu backhander.

Game Notes

San Jose tied a franchise record with 25 shots on goal in the second period...This was Setoguchi's second multi-goal effort this season, following one on December 16 at Dallas...Backstrom has yielded at least three goals in all of his six starts at San Jose.