Couture Leads Sharks to 3 Straight Wins

Rookie leads Sharks with 18 goals

Logan Couture and Dan Boyle scored 3:28 apart in the second period, leading the San Jose Sharks past the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 on Tuesday night.
 
Antero Niittymaki stopped 26 shots to beat the Oilers for the third time this season and give the Sharks their first three-game winning streak.
 
Dustin Penner scored for the Oilers, who lost for the third time in four games. Nikolai Khabibulin made 28 saves, but Edmonton's three-game winning streak on the road ended.
 
Couture netted his fourth goal in three games against fellow NHL rookie of the year contenders Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall. Eberle had four goals in his previous three games, and Hall had three assists in the Oilers' 6-3 victory over Columbus on Thursday.
 
Couture created his own scoring opportunity, stealing the puck from Linus Omark in the neutral zone and executing a give-and-go with Ryane Clowe.
 
Clowe got one defenseman to commit before passing across the crease, giving Couture, who has an NHL-high 10 goals in December, a clean shot to the stick side past Khabibulin.
 
Boyle scored a power-play goal after skating into the slot and firing a shot past Khabibulin, who was screened by Dany Heatley. Joe Thornton earned an assist to give him six against Edmonton in three games this season.
 
The Sharks scored a power-play goal in a fourth straight game, their longest streak since opening the season a six-game run.
 
Penner, who has at least one point in five of six games, scored on a redirect from Ryan Whitney. Whitney has 25 assists and leads Edmonton with 25 points.
 
The Sharks killed off a 5-on-3 power play midway through the second period.

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