MONTREAL — Logan Couture wanted a response and he got it.
After the Sharks put forth their worst effort of the season in a 6-0 loss to the Dallas Stars on New Year’s Eve, Couture insisted his team’s response to the blowout would be more telling than anything that happened in the game itself.
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The Sharks (20-13-4) provided the answer he wanted Tuesday, picking up a 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens (16-19-4), the home team’s fifth-consecutive loss.
After withstanding an early charge in which the Canadiens recorded the game’s first six shots, the Sharks opened the scoring at 12:57 of the first period. Joe Thornton grabbed hold of the team’s scoring lead, recording his 27th point of the season by stuffing in a Justin Braun shot that missed the net from below the goal line.
The Sharks went into the intermission holding a 1-0 lead thanks in large part to their second-ranked penalty kill, which killed off three early infractions.
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Marc-Edouard Vlasic gave the Sharks a 2-0 lead at 11:27 of the middle frame. The hometown boy recorded his first-career goal against the Canadiens by cleaning up the garbage of a Mikkel Boedker shot on a 2-on-1 play.
The Canadiens finally found a way to solve the Sharks penalty kill, which went 4 for 5, at 16:07 of the second, capitalizing on a two-man advantage after Boedker received a tripping penalty and Burns flipped the puck over the glass for a delay of game.
Andrew Shaw scored the goal, knocking in a pass from Max Pacioretty as he was streaking toward the net from the slot.
The Sharks regained the two-goal lead less than four minutes later when Timo Meier scored his first of two goals on the power play with 10 seconds left in the period. Meier scored off a pass from Kevin Labanc, who recorded his second assist of the game, giving him 12 points in 10 games.
Meier, who returned to the Sharks top line Tuesday, picked up his second goal just 1:13 into the third, sending a sniper shot into the top-left corner on the rush.
The 21-year-old forward also scored his first-NHL goal on his first-career shot on Dec. 16, 2016. With eight tallies on the season, Meier is now tied with Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Joonas Donskoi and Chris Tierney for third on the team in goals.
With four games in six days this week, backup Aaron Dell received the start, earning the win by making 30 saves on 31 shots.
The win was the Sharks 10th over the Canadiens in their last 11 tries.
