Sharks top Panthers for 3rd straight win

Yaroslav Askarov made 38 saves for the San Jose Sharks in a 3-1 win against the visiting Florida Panthers on Saturday night.

Macklin Celebrini, Adam Gaudette and Alexander Wennberg scored for the Sharks, who have won three in a row for the first time this season.

San Jose beat the visiting Winnipeg Jets 2-1 on Friday night.

Brad Marchand scored for the fourth straight game and Daniil Tarasov made 20 saves for the Panthers, who have dropped two of three.

The Sharks had just killed a tripping penalty on Jeff Skinner when Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad turned the puck over in the corner following a dump in.

Will Smith passed the puck out front from below the goal line to Celebrini crashing the slot and he lifted the puck into the net for a 1-0 lead at 17:25 of the first, the 10th goal of the season and NHL-leading 24th point for the 2024 No. 1 overall draft pick.

The Sharks made it 2-0 at 3:06 of the second after Gaudette won a faceoff against Cole Schwindt in the Florida zone and went to the front of the net. The puck went to Dmitry Orlov above the left circle and his wrist shot was tipped into the net by Gaudette.

The Panthers scored 28 seconds later to cut it to 2-1.

Florida won a battle for the puck in the San Jose zone and Marchand's shot from the left circle was saved by Askarov, but he followed up and scored the rebound for his 10th goal of the season.

The Sharks killed their 17th straight penalty with 9:39 left before going on their own power play with 5:48 remaining.

Wennberg sealed the win by scoring into an empty net with 51 seconds left for a 3-1 lead.