Sharks’ Granlund leads team to 1st road win with 3 points against Devils

Despite being outshot 23-7, the Sharks managed to outscore the Devils 3-2 in the third period.

“We were opportunistic tonight,” commented Quinn.

In his NHL debut, defenseman Simon Nemec, selected No. 2 in the 2022 NHL Draft, contributed two assists, while Akira Schmid made 12 saves for the Devils (11-10-1) who had won their previous three games. Schmid had previously made 44 saves in a 4-3 win against the Philadelphia Flyers.

“We went back to Akira as just a vote of confidence for winning (at Philadelphia),” said New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff. “But you got to get timely saves.”

MacDonald scored a quick goal at 2:10 of the first period, giving the Sharks a 1-0 lead, and said, “We started out hot. A quick goal and that builds confidence from off the start. And Kahkonen was incredible all night.”

Dawson Mercer scored a power-play goal for New Jersey to tie the game 1-1 at 13:21, with MacDonald scoring again for a 2-1 lead on a redirection from the high slot at 2:51 of the second period.

“It’s puck management,” Ruff said. “(Our defensive breakdowns) have nothing to do with (our) system. It’s a decision where you want to put the puck. We knew we were going to have the puck the majority of the time. We knew we would have zone time. You can do all this good work but if you’re going to disrespect the game, which we did … it’s disappointing.”

Duclair pushed it to 3-1 on a one-timer from the right face-off circle at 9:47, and Jack Hughes made it 3-2 on a snap shot from the right circle at 2:56 of the third period.

Duclair scored again to give the Sharks a 4-2 lead off a turnover, going backhand to forehand on a breakaway at 5:07.

“If you look at our defensive game, it’s not where we want it to be,” said Devils forward Timo Meier, who returned to the lineup after missing the past seven games with a lower-body injury. “We got to tighten that up as a group and individually we got to look in the mirror and clean some stuff up. We know we have a lot of talent on this team, but talent (alone) is not going to get you far.”