Sharks Contain Jagr and the Penguins, 5-2

San Jose Coach Darryl Sutter highlighted one fact to point out how well the Sharks played in a 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night at Pittsburgh.

“They have the best player in the game over there. Did he score?” Sutter asked, referring to Jaromir Jagr, the NHL’s leading scorer who was shut out for only the third time in 22 games.

“He’s averaging just about a goal a game and the two great chances he had tonight were because they had the last [line] change. So we did a pretty good job on him.”

Jagr had six shots on goal, but those all became part of Steve Shields’ 31 saves as the Sharks ended Pittsburgh’s five-game home winning streak.

Owen Nolan scored his 17th goal and Tony Granato got his first as the Sharks, who had been on a 2-5-2 road skid, won one night after losing, 4-2, in Detroit.

They started quickly, with Nolan getting a shot past Tom Barrasso 37 seconds into the game.

“We’ve been having trouble with our starts,” Nolan said. “It’s nice to make the other team play catch-up.”

Phoenix 3, Tampa Bay 1--Bob Essensa (8-0-1), the only unbeaten goalie in the NHL, made 17 saves at Phoenix in the Coyotes’ eighth consecutive victory--one short of a 15-year-old franchise record.

Dallas Drake scored in the second period, and Jeremy Roenick and Keith Tkachuk added goals in the third. Reid Simpson of the Lightning ruined Essensa’s shutout bid with 1:38 left in the game.

Philadelphia 4, Buffalo 2--John Vanbiesbrouck made 18 saves in his 800th career game as the Flyers won at Buffalo, N.Y.

Eric Lindros, Simon Gagne, Jody Hull, and John LeClair scored for the Flyers, who are 14-3-3 since starting the season 0-5-1.

Calgary 5, New York Islanders 0--Fred Brathwaite made 24 saves in his second career shutout and the Flames scored four second-period goals at Uniondale, N.Y.

Brathwaite, making his eighth straight start, was not seriously tested as he picked up his first shutout since Jan. 8 against Dallas.

Felix Potvin, seeing his first action in three games, stopped the first 15 shots he faced--including 13 during a scoreless first period--but couldn’t keep the Flames at bay early in the second.

Vancouver 3, Edmonton 2--Todd Bertuzzi scored 1:51 into overtime at Vancouver, Canada, as the Canucks ended a five-game winless skid.

St. Louis 3, Nashville 1--Pierre Turgeon, back after missing four games because of back spasms, scored all three goals for the Blues at St. Louis.

The Blues are 4-0-2 in their last six home games and 9-1-2 in the last 12.

Toronto 2, Carolina 2--Garry Valk’s first goal of the season with 1:23 left in regulation helped give the Maple Leafs a tie at Raleigh, N.C.

Boston 2, Washington 2--Richard Zednik broke out of a scoring slump with two first-period goals as the Capitals tied the Bruins at Washington. All the game’s goals came in the first period.