SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- The San Jose Sharks got their first home win of the season behind another strong effort from Vesa Toskala.
Toskala made 32 saves and Marco Sturm continued his torrid pace with a power-play goal as the Sharks defeated the Nashville Predators, 3-1, for their first win at HP Pavilion.
After Evgeni Nabokov left Friday's victory over Phoenix due to a groin injury, Toskala came on and stopped 31 shots to preserve the shutout. In this one, he turned away 20 shots through two periods before Scott Hartnell broke through midway through the third.
"I saw the puck really well tonight and I felt good from the beginning," Toskala said. "I felt really comfortable. The defense played very good."
Winless in 11 home games since March 27, including nine this season, the Sharks took a 1-0 lead in the second period on Alyn McCauley's eighth goal of the season. Sturm doubled the lead early in the third with his sixth in as many games and Patrick Marleau tacked on an insurance tally less than two minutes after Hartnell's goal.
"Anytime that you get scored on, you want to go out and try to continue on what you are having success on," Marleau said. "The puck came to the net and I got a loose puck and was able to put it in."
Nashville's Chris Mason stopped 29 shots but remained winless in three career decisions (0-3-0).
"Hopefully, one day I will get that win," Mason said. "The guys did right by me, but I let them down. ... I know that I'll be better out there, I just need the opportunity."
With both teams playing the night after posting road wins, the game had a sluggish pace until 14:33 of the second period, when McCauley drilled a slap shot from the left faceoff circle past Mason for his second goal in as many contests.
Nashville coach Barry Trotz refused to use the back-to-back games as an excuse.
"We weren't flat tonight because we played last night," he said. "They had the same thing last night."
"I don't think that playing back-to-back games had anything to do with this loss," Hartnell added. "They played last night, too, and it didn't seem to bother them."
The Sharks, who improved to 2-0-2 in their last four games, took advantage of a power-play opportunity to increase the lead.
Defenseman Kyle McLaren, who had two assists Friday, fired a shot that Nils Ekman deflected before Mason kicked it aside. After caroming off the end boards, the puck came to Sturm, who put it between the goalie's pads at 2:24 of the third.
"When you are hot, you are hot," Sturm said. "It is just things are going in right now. I am trying to shoot a lot because I know that I am hot. The bounces are going to go in for you."
Hartnell ended Toskala's shutout bid at 8:27 with a one-timer, but Marleau gloved Vincent Damphousse's pass and lifted a backhander into the top right corner of the net 75 seconds later to restore San Jose's two-goal cushion.
"That was huge," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "I was a little nervous. You just don't know because we have had some bad moments."
