San Jose Sharks/Chicago Blackhawks NHL recap on ESPN

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Sunday, Jan. 2 8:30pm ET
Weary Sharks bite Blackhawks,

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CHICAGO (AP) -- The San Jose Sharks were supposed to be the tired team, playing their fourth game in five nights.

But after overcoming some early fatigue-related sloppiness, the Sharks took charge and skated to a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

"I was a little concerned early," San Jose coach Darryl Sutter said. "But then I thought we really worked hard and found some new energy in the third period."

Chicago's Jean-Pierre Dumont scored 1:22 into the game, but goals by Marcus Ragnarsson, Jeff Friesen, Marco Sturm and Patrick Marleau propelled the Sharks to victory. San Jose goalie Steve Shields stopped 18 Blackhawks shots to earn his 14th victory.

Chicago's Jocelyn Thibault, who faced 38 shots, kept the game close until late goals by Sturm and Marleau 1:04 apart.

"I thought their guy (Thibault) made more big saves than our guy," Sutter said. "When it was 2-1, we had more chances to put it away."

"We played exactly the way we wanted to play," said San Jose and former Chicago defenseman Gary Suter, who played for the first time against his old teammates at the United Center.

Chicago associate coach Lorne Molleken attributed his team's lackluster performance to fatigue. The Blackhawks played their third game in four nights. Unlike the Sharks, however, Chicago didn't skate Saturday.

"Tonight our tank was empty," Molleken said. "You could see it in the way our guys were executing."

After Dumont opened the scoring, Ragnarsson tied it 1-1 at 5:37 on a screened drive from the top of the slot. Ragnarsson's goal, his first in 25 games, came five seconds after an interference penalty to Chicago's Doug Zmolek expired.

Friesen had the only goal of the second period, at 8:25, while the teams skated four-on-four. The goal was Friesen's 16th, but his first in seven games. Sturm made it 3-1 from the left circle with 5:25 left in the third before Marleau completed the scoring from the edge of the crease.

With the victory, San Jose, 3-6-0 in its last nine games, avoided falling below .500 for the first time this season.

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