Aaron Dell stopped all 21 shots he faced in his first career shutout and the San Jose Sharks shutout the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0 at SAP Center on Friday night.
It was a good game for both teams in the first period.
Timo Meier received a scoring opportunity as he picked up a pass from Brent Burns and fired it into the net, but Steve Mason blocked Meier’s shot to save a goal.
The Sharks went on the power play at 14:37. Marc Edouard-Vlasic fired a shot from the top of the circle, Kevin Labanc was in front of Mason and Patrick Marleau tapped it in to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 16:29. With the power play goal — his 10th of the season — Marleau passed Norm Ullman on the NHL’s all-time goals list and tied Jean Ratelle for 46th place with his 495th goal.
The Sharks outshot the Flyers 12-7 and led 1-0 after 20 minutes.
Both teams tried to get ahead in the second period, but their offense sputtered. Mason was replaced by Anthony Stolarz. The Sharks outshot the Flyers 21-14 and held on to a 1-0 lead after 40 minutes.
The Sharks padded their lead to 2-0 at 15:23 of the third period with Justin Braun’s second goal of the season. Braun went top-shelf with an incredible shot beating Stolarz.
The Sharks shutout the Flyers 2-0 to notch their fourth straight win.
Dell finished with 21 saves in a San Jose victory. Mason made 11 saves in a losing effort for Philadelphia. Stolarz made 21 saves in relief of Mason.
“I think I had a pretty easy night tonight,” Dell said. “I didn’t really give up a lot. I think that was the best all-around game we’ve played all year.”
Sharks captain Joe Pavelski praised his team for their great start.
“We had a really good start,” Pavelski said. “We got that first goal and went from there.”
Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer thought the team did a good job.
“I thought it was a really solid game for us,” DeBoer said. “Probably one of the most complete games all year.”
Up Next
The Sharks close out 2016 with a stop in Los Angeles to face the Kings in a rivalry game Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. PST on CSCA, FSW.
