Damphousse Scores Twice to Add Some Bite to Sharks

The second-lowest scoring team in the NHL showed the most potent offense how it’s done.

Vincent Damphousse, acquired Tuesday in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens, scored two goals in his first game with the San Jose Sharks and the Sharks extended their unbeaten streak to seven games with an 8-5 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night at Toronto.

“It was really important for me to get a fresh start with the Sharks,” said Damphousse, who played on a line with Joe Murphy and Jeff Friesen. “There’s only 12 games left in the season. I want to play well right away so I can play a lot. It’s nice to play on an offensive line.”

San Jose entered the game ahead of only the Tampa Bay Lightning in offense, averaging only 2.2 goals a game. The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, led the NHL with 3.1 goals a game.

The Sharks are undefeated in five consecutive road games and strengthened their grip on the seventh playoff spot in the Western Conference, five points ahead of the idle Calgary Flames.

Murray Craven, Friesen, Mike Rathje, Owen Nolan, Alex Korolyuk and Murphy also scored for the Sharks, who scored more than six goals in a game for the first time this season. The Sharks built a 7-2 lead in the third period before the Maple Leafs scored three goals in less than four minutes late in the game.

Damphousse, acquired in exchange for two draft picks, scored on a slap shot from just inside the blue line on the power play to give the Sharks a 2-1 lead at 3:14 of the second period. His second goal came on a third-period breakaway, making the score 5-2.

Detroit 2, Buffalo 1--Wendel Clark scored at Detroit in his first game with the revamped Red Wings.

The game marked the Red Wing debuts for two of the four veterans--Clark and defenseman Chris Chelios--the Red Wings obtained in trading-deadline deals Tuesday to bolster the team’s chances for a third consecutive Stanley Cup.

The other new acquisitions, goaltender Bill Ranford and defenseman Ulf Samuelsson, were scratched.

Sergei Fedorov broke a 1-1 tie at 8:09 of the third period after the rebound of Doug Brown’s shot came to him in the left circle. As Brown skipped out of his way, Fedorov fired a shot into the left side of the net for his 21st goal.

Carolina 2, N.Y. Islanders 1--Andrei Kovalenko and Robert Kron each scored a goal at Greensboro, N.C., as the Hurricanes ended a four-game winless streak.

The Hurricanes returned home after a four-game road swing on which they went 0-3-1 and dropped their last three.

After Carolina built a 2-1 lead through two periods, the Hurricane defense took charge, holding the Islanders to one shot in the final period.

The Hurricanes outshot the Islanders, 29-25, in completing a four-game season-series sweep of the Islanders, who have won only one of their last 11 games.

Nashville 3, Tampa Bay 0--Greg Johnson had a goal and two assists and Mike Dunham stopped 27 shots for the Predators at Tampa, Fla.

Johnson assisted on two first-period goals and scored a third-period goal during a partial breakaway.

Dunham earned his first shutout this season and fourth of his career.

Boston 3, Ottawa 0--Dmitri Khristich, Landon Wilson and Jason Allison scored on consecutive shots to lead the Bruins at Kanata, Canada.

Byron Dafoe made 28 saves for his eighth shutout of the season.

N.Y. Rangers 2, Florida 1--Mike Richter stopped 34 shots and Petr Nedved had a goal and an assist for the Rangers at Sunrise, Fla.

Colorado 5, Vancouver 2--Peter Forsberg scored two goals and Joe Sakic added a goal and two assists for the Avalanche at Denver.

Montreal 2, Edmonton 0--Jeff Hackett made 32 saves at Edmonton for his fifth shutout of the season. He has 21 victories since Dec. 26, tops in the NHL.