Devils fall to Sharks in home opener 4-2

NEWARK (AP) -- Logan Couture had a goal and two assists and Antti Niemi made 35 saves as the San Jose Sharks kept up their strong start to the season with a 4-2 win over the pesky New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.

Joe Pavelski added a goal and an assist and Joe Thornton iced the game with an empty net goal - his 1,200th NHL point - as the Sharks won for the fourth time in five games. They have picked up 9 of 10 points, losing only in a shootout to the New York Islanders.

Mike Cammalleri and Adam Henrique gave the sellout crowd of 16,592 something to cheer about, scoring in a 4:10 span to pull within one with 7:50 to play.

Niemi made the lead stand with excelling stops on Cammalleri, Henrique and Damien Brunner before Thornton scored his first goal of the season with 1:14 to play.

Cory Schneider made 28 saves for the Devils in their home opener, including a glove stop on a penalty shot by Tommy Wingels with 3:44 to play and the New Jersey down a goal.

San Jose, which shut out the Kings and Jets to start the season, is playing 16 of its first 21 games on the road.

Niemi, who has won all three of his starts, stopped the Devils' first 27 shots before Cammalleri beat him with a shot from the right circle with 12 minutes to play. Henrique tallied with a pin-ball shot off a defender.

The problem for the Devils was they were down 3-0, with Patrick Marleau pushing the lead to three with a hard shot on a counter attack early in the third period that hit off Schneider's arm at 1:36.

Pavelski and Couture had scored on the power play late in the first and second periods, respectively.

Pavelski, who has goals in two of the last three games, got the Sharks on the board with 2:07 left in the first period, beating Schneider from in close after collecting the rebound of a Couture shot from the right circle.

Couture got his first goal of the season with 2:08 remaining in the second period. Pavelski sent a pass from the right point to Marleau behind the red zone and he found Couture alone in front.

NOTES: Devils RW Martin Havlat did not play because of facial lacerations. Brunner replaced him. ... The Sharks have scored first in all five games this season. ... San Jose is 2-0-1 on its current five-game East Coast road trip. It plays next at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night against the Rangers. ... The Devils don't play again until they host the Rangers on Tuesday. ... D Brent Burns had the secondary assist on the goal by Pavelski, and has points in all five games (1-6-7). ... The Devils are 2-4-2 in their home openers at the Prudential Center.

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