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Connolly, Gaustad help Sabres rout Sharks

Dec 9, 2007 - 7:54 AM SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- The San Jose Sharks just do not seem to feel at home in the "Shark Tank" this season.

Tim Connolly scored a momentum-turning shorthanded goal and added an assist and Paul Gaustad had two tallies as the Buffalo Sabres cruised to a 7-1 rout of the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.

The Sharks, who own the league's best road record at 11-3-2, are now just 4-6-2 at home.

It was Buffalo's first-ever win in San Jose in 10 tries.

Defensemen Brian Campbell and Toni Lydman each registered two assists for the Sabres, who bounced back from an 8-2 loss at Los Angeles on Thursday.

"It feels nice to do what we did and bounce back the way we did," Buffalo's Derek Roy said. "Obviously, (the loss was) in the back of our mind. We're going to move forward from this and get better. I just hope we left some goals in our bank for Monday."

Controlling the puck in his own zone on the power play, defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh bumped into a teammate, fell down and lost control of the puck. That sprang Connolly on a short breakaway.

Connolly deked and beat goaltender Evgeni Nabokov with a backhander to give the Sabres a 2-1 edge at 7:33 of the second period. It was Connolly's first shorthanded tally since the 1999-00 campaign - his rookie season.

"Whatever energy we had coming out of a period we didn't play well but had the lead went out the window with the shorthanded goal," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said.

The goal was Buffalo's fifth shorthander of the season, tying them for second in the league. It also was the fifth tally allowed while on the power play by San Jose, which is ranked 27th in that category.

Michael Ryan added to the lead less than five minutes later, collecting the rebound of Adam Mair's bad-angle shot and chipping it past Nabokov to give Buffalo a 3-1 advantage with 7:34 left in the middle session.

The Sabres continued the offensive onslaught late in the period, taking a 4-1 lead on Gaustad's power-play goal with 2:46 remaining.

"I think this was a combined effort," Gaustad said. "We were playing individual hockey against LA, and against Anaheim (on Wednesday) as well. We wanted to set the tempo tonight, and we stuck to it all night."

Just 24 hours after registering his fourth shutout of the season, Nabokov had a rough go in this one. He yielded four goals on 25 shots over the first two periods before being replaced by Dimitri Patzold to start the third.

Wilson refused to blame his netminder, however.

"He was helpless," Wilson said. "There were two 2-on-0 breakaways while you're on the power play. There's not much you can do there. It wasn't Nabby's fault."

Patzold did not fare any better, surrendering goals by Roy, Gaustad and Tomas Vanek in the final session. He turned aside just six of the nine shots he faced in the session.

Ozolinsh started the scoring with 5:59 remaining in the opening period, when he launched a wrist shot from the high slot that appeared to be heading wide of the net. But the puck deflected off the skate of Sabres defenseman Nolan Pratt and handcuffed goaltender Ryan Miller, giving San Jose a 1-0 edge.

Buffalo tied the game when Ales Kotalik scored his ninth goal of the season at 4:06 of the second.

Entering the contest, San Jose had won four straight games and tallied points in 11 of its previous 12 contests.

Sharks right wing Jonathan Cheechoo left the ice near the end of the first period with a mild groin strain and did not return. This presented coach Ron Wilson with a dilemma since he has been dressing seven defensemen and just 11 forwards of late.