Thornton helps Sharks to victory over Wild, 3-1

Joe Thornton scored his first goal at home this season and Evgeni Nabokov made 22 saves in the San Jose Sharks’ 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.

Patrick Marleau and Mike Grier also scored for the Sharks, who avenged a 4-1 loss to Minnesota last month with two early goals followed by two periods of strong defense.

Nabokov was outstanding in only his second victory in five starts, ending the Wild’s four-game winning streak at the Shark Tank.

Todd White scored and Manny Fernandez stopped 27 shots for Minnesota in the opening game of a five-game trip after playing only four games away from St. Paul.

The Wild has lost three of four after a 9-1 start, including its first back-to-back defeats of the season.

Calgary 3, Dallas 1 -- Tony Amonte scored twice to help the Flames beat the Stars at Calgary, Canada.

New Jersey 3, Carolina 2 -- John Madden scored in the sixth round of a shootout to give the Devils the victory at East Rutherford, N.J.

Montreal 3, Edmonton 2 -- Alex Kovalev scored on the Canadiens’ fourth attempt of the shootout, giving Montreal the victory at home.

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The NHL’s unbalanced schedule is sticking around, at least for one more season.

During a five-hour meeting in Toronto, the league’s 30 general managers debated the pros and cons but couldn’t come to a consensus on how the 82-game slate should be put together.

So, the plan is to keep things as they are through the 2007-08 season.