Sharks coach Peter DeBoer to miss game with personal matter

Patrick Marleau said for days that he just wanted to get it over and done with.

Brent Burns scored twice to lead the way for the Sharks (12-8-0), and Paul Martin scored his first goal of the season in his first matchup with his former team.

The Penguins and Sharks will meet again December 1 in San Jose, the start of a four-game road trip for the Penguins.

Burns has seven goals this season, and the Sharks have won the first five games of a six-game trip that ends Sunday in Columbus.

“It’s definitely nice to get (1,000) in a win”, Marleau said. “Just having everybody come up, congratulating me and throwing different numbers out there, it kind of takes shape how big this is”.

Marleau reached the milestone 7:54 into the first period, digging the puck out of the corner and feeding Joel Ward, whose shot on goal was stopped by Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury kicked out the rebound to Burns, who had a flawless open angle to score. Martin picked up the first assist on that goal.

Few NHL players reach 1,000 career NHL points; in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft class, only Joe Thornton (1,273 career points) and Marian Hossa (1,064) had reached the milestone as of Saturday night.

The last player to hit the 1,000 marker was Patrik Elias, who hit it on January 6th, 2015 – and the next player eligible, sitting on 932 points and counting, is Vincent Lecavalier. His duties were handled by assistant coaches Bob Boughner, Steve Spott and Johan Hedberg.

The San Jose Sharks just keep rolling along ladies and gentlemen. The first was his 1,000th career National Hockey League point.

NHL.com had Marleau’s quotes from a CSN Bay Area interview between the first and second periods of the contest.

Patrick Marleau tallied a goal and an assist in Sunday’s win over the Blue Jackets. In a true act of class, the Penguins recognized Marleau’s accomplishment Saturday, prompting a round of applause for the visiting player. “Not only for me, but also for Paul Martin”. He scored 27 goals and 62 points in 82 games last season….

It’s been only six games since his recall from the AHL, but Melker Karlsson is making a strong case to be a permanent fixture on the Sharks roster.

The Sharks will recognise Marleau’s achievement December 1 when they host the Penguins. They will close out a four-game homestand Wednesday against St. Louis.

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer missed the game to deal with a personal matter. There are times when blocked shots seem like a trivial statistic, but in last night’s the matchup, the Sharks’ 22-8 advantage in the category did not go unnoticed by the Penguins.

Couture skated for roughly 10-15 minutes.