SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- Alyn McCauley recorded his first career hat trick and Jonathan Cheechoo notched his first two-goal game as the San Jose Sharks snapped a seven-game winless streak with a 6-2 rout of the Florida Panthers.
Held without a point in his first seven games this season, McCauley got the Sharks on the board just 2:07 into the game. He scored again with less than five minutes remaining in the opening period as San Jose built a 3-0 lead.
Acquired from Toronto last March in the trade involving Owen Nolan, McCauley finished off the 26th hat trick in team history at 5:01 of the second to make it 4-1.
"I made the most of my opportunities tonight," said McCauley, who led the Ontario Hockey League with 56 goals in 1996-97. "You work hard to achieve something like this, but you have to get breaks, and tonight I was in position to get those breaks."
"He's been snakebit but had a big game tonight," San Jose coach Ron Wilson added. "He set himself in front and his line did a great job of getting him the puck."
After rookie Nathan Horton cut into Florida's deficit with his first NHL goal, Cheechoo capped San Jose's second win of the season with a pair of tallies off passes from Scott Thornton.
"I have my shot back and that's the biggest thing," Cheechoo said. "I had a good game against them. I had the chances and was fortunate to capitalize. I feel like I'm in a positive situation now."
The Sharks' outburst made things easy for Evgeni Nabokov, who stopped 27 shots to snap a personal 15-game winless streak that dated to February 27.
"My team gave me a good cushion and I was able to concentrate and play a patient game," Nabokov said. "I can't sit on this effort, I have to keep improving. We're still far behind, so to make too much of this would be a mistake."
Defenseman Brad Stuart had the other goal for San Jose, which scored just 10 times in its previous seven games.
McCauley had five goals in his first 26 games as a Shark and 38 in 330 NHL games before one-timing a pass from Marco Sturm and beating former Shark Steve Shields to the glove side.
"It's nice to see the effort pay off," McCauley said. "You try to help the team win every night and I was able to do that. Hopefully, this will carry over and be a good sign for me going forward."
After tipping defenseman Kyle McLaren's slap shot from the point, the 26-year-old center surprised Shields with a quick shot from the slot.
McCauley's hat trick was San Jose's first since April 6, 2002, when Patrick Marleau had one against Detroit.
Shields earned consecutive starts for the first time this season but gave up three goals on nine shots in the opening period. After allowing McCauley's third of the night, his misplay led to Cheechoo's first.
As Shields tried to play the puck behind the net, Thornton stripped him and fed Cheechoo, who scored into the vacated goal.
"I just didn't get it done," said Shields, who won his first two decisions with Florida. "A lot of responsibility goes to the goalie to keep the game close, and it didn't happen."
