• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Bernier's pair of goals lifts Sharks past Wild

Dec 12, 2007 - 7:26 AM By Michael Duca PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- Steve Bernier scored twice in the second period to lead the San Jose Sharks to a 4-1 victory against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.

Evgeni Nabokov made 36 saves, improving to 16-9-4 while starting every game for the Sharks this season.

"I think maybe (Curtis Joseph) started that many when I was in Edmonton, he started almost every night," Sharks right wing Mike Grier said. "Nabby's working for it, and he takes pride in being ready to play every night."

Bernier scored his goals in a span of 4 1/2 minutes midway through the second period, registering the fourth multi-goal game of his career. The right wing was one of nine different Sharks to register a point in the contest.

"We practiced a lot this week being in front of the net, being strong in front of the net and trying to get the rebounds," Bernier said. "We practiced a couple of tricks, and that's what I did tonight. Sometimes the puck is going to turn right on your stick, sometimes not, and tonight, I was lucky."

Minnesota has been struggling to score this campaign, netting just 72 goals in 29 games and five in its previous four.

"We have to come out harder," Minnesota's Aaron Voros said. "You just have to get it in your head that you want to be here and you want to play."

The Sharks opened the scoring at 2:39 of the first period, when defenseman Craig Rivet slid the puck across the crease from the left side of the net. Joe Pavelski crashed the net and poked the puck behind Niklas Backstrom after the goaltender already had committed to the opposite side to defend Rivet.

San Jose's three-goal outburst in a nine-minute stretch of the middle session sealed the victory.

The first goal of the surge came on an extended shift as Grier dug the puck off the right wing boards and passed it to Patrick Rissmiller.

Rissmiller skated into the slot and quickly slid the puck to rookie Torrey Mitchell, who spun away from a defender and fed Grier for a one-timer from the high slot that got between Backstrom's pads at 4:17 of the session.

Less than five minutes later, Marian Gaborik turned over the puck deep in his own end to Marcel Goc, who passed it to Bernier behind the net. Bernier skated out to Backstrom's stick side and slapped a shot that hit the netminder's blocker.

However, Bernier came up with his own rebound and slapped it in, low to Backstrom's stick side at 8:48 to give San Jose a 3-0 bulge.

With 6:43 to go and Minnesota defenseman Brent Burns in the penalty box for slashing, Bernier poked in a rebound after Pavelski's attempt to stuff the puck past a prone Backstrom's skate had failed.

"They got shots and they got rebounds in the slot," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "Most of their chances were shots from the point, or bouncing pucks and they could get other shots."

Nabokov was on the verge of his fifth shutout of the season before the Wild capitalized on an interference penalty on Rissmiller at 10:58 of the third period. After a faceoff, Branko Radivojevic converted a pass from Pavol Demitra for his third tally of the campaign.

Minnesota unleashed 17 shots in the third period, but Voros said it was too little, too late.

"We need to play the whole game like we did in the third," he said. "We can't wait to get behind the eight ball before we show up. That's been happening to us for the past two weeks, and it is unfortunate."