• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Sharks try to continue mastery of Sens

Jan 19, 2012 - 3:56 PM (Sports Network) - San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan sounded like he felt his club deserved four points after its most recent victory on Tuesday.

McLellan will have to settle for just trying to pick up another victory tonight against an Ottawa Senators club that the Sharks haven't lost to in over eight years.

The Sharks appear to have won their game versus the Flames on Tuesday twice, having had an overtime tally waved off due to goaltender inference before getting shootout tallies from Michal Handzus and Brent Burns in a 2-1 win.

Prior to the tiebreaking session, Justin Braun fired a hard wrister from the right circle with a minute left in overtime that found the back of the net. However, it was waived off after it was ruled that center Tommy Wingels interfered with Calgary goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff.

But replays seemed to show that it was Calgary's Olli Jokinen who made contact with his own goalie.

McLellan said he was disappointed that his team had to win twice and conceded that the referees have a tough job to do on the ice, but added he would like them to be sure when they make that kind of call.

"Obviously we can come in here, look at the replay and see that it was not the right call. They don't have that luxury," McLellan said. "What it comes down to right now is regulation and overtime wins mean a lot more than shootout wins, and we don't have one in the bank, and we probably should have."

Regardless, the Sharks won for the seventh time in nine games and moved to 7-1-2 in their past 10. San Jose also picked up a third straight home victory thanks to a regulation goal from Torrey Mitchell and 27 saves by Antti Niemi.

San Jose owns a two-goal edge over Los Angeles for first place in the Pacific Division and will be without forward Ryane Clowe for a second straight game due to an upper-body issue.

The Sharks may be okay without his 26 points as they have won their past five meetings with the Senators since a 4-1 home setback on Oct. 18, 2003. They blanked the Sens 4-0 in Ottawa in the lone meeting a season ago, getting 28 saves from Niemi and a pair of goals from Logan Couture.

The Senators do come into this meeting playing great hockey, having gone 12-2-2 in their past 16 games to pull within a point of the Bruins for the top spot in the Northeast Division.

Ottawa was dealt a 2-0 loss by the Jets on Monday and fell behind by two goals early the following night against the hosting Maple Leafs, but responded with three straight goals to grab the 3-2 win. Craig Anderson made 37 saves, while Kyle Turris and Daniel Alfredsson both had a goal and an assist.

"Overall, just a great way to find a win," said Anderson. "Obviously it was not the start we wanted, getting down two goals, but we're a pretty resilient team. We battled through it, found a way to get it back to 2-2 and came up with a big goal in the third."

Anderson, the league's reigning First Star for the week, is 7-1-1 in nine games this month.

Alfredsson, who has 15 goals and 20 assists this season, hits the ice for the first time since being named one of the captains for the upcoming All-Star Game in Ottawa along with Boston's Zdeno Chara. That game will take place on Jan. 29 at Scotiabank Place.

The Sens won the opener of a six-game road trip, giving them a victory in four straight as the guest and a 6-0-4 mark in their past 10 away from Ottawa.