Sharks top Hurricanes 4-3

SAN JOSE - Logan Couture and Kevin Labanc scored less than 2 minutes apart in the second period and the San Jose Sharks bounced back from consecutive losses by beating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 on Saturday night.

Patrick Marleau scored 12 seconds into the game and Paul Martin added his first goal of the season for the Sharks.

Backup goalie Aaron Dell made 30 saves to earn his third win in four starts this season.

Lee Stempniak and Derek Ryan scored power-play goals and Joakim Nordstrom added a short-handed tally but it wasn’t enough for the Hurricanes, who earned three points on their three-game California swing. Cam Ward made 16 saves.

After a lackluster start to the second period for San Jose, with no shots in the first 8 minutes and then allowing a game-tying short-handed goal by Nordstrom, the Sharks took control with a quick flurry.

Seconds after Ryan returned from a slashing penalty, Brent Burns kept the puck in at the point and sent a shot toward net that Couture deflected past Ward for his 11th of the season.

Just 1:52 later, Labanc came on the ice after Marleau broke a stick and skated right toward the net. That put him in perfect position to knock the rebound of Dylan DeMelo’s into an open net to make it 4-2.

Ryan cut the deficit to one when he scored on the power play early in the third period after Brenden Dillon was sent off for cross-checking Sebastian Aho well behind the play.

Carolina nearly got another power play later in the period when Burns was called for hooking, but Jeff Skinner also got sent off when the referee called him for embellishment.

The Hurricanes pushed for the equalizer late but Dell stopped Jeff Skinner’s 11th shot on goal of the night to seal the win.

The game got off to an action-packed start with the Sharks scoring right off the opening faceoff. Justin Braun sent a breakout pass from his own zone that went through Joe Pavelski’s legs to Joe Thornton to set up a 2 on 1. Thornton then slid the puck to Marleau, who knocked it in for his seventh goal of the season just 12 seconds into the game.

Still on the same shift, Thornton was called for holding in the offensive zone. The Hurricanes capitalized on the power play with Teuvo Teravainen setting up Stempniak.

Just over a minute later, the Sharks went back ahead when Martin’s point shot deflected off defenseman Brett Pesce’s skate and past Ward.