BOSTON – San Jose captain Joe Thornton wasn’t alarmed by the Sharks’ season-low shot output.

The 18 shots they had against Boston were plenty as San Jose kept rolling with a 2-0 win over the Bruins on Saturday.

Rookie Logan Couture scored a power-play goal 7:22 in, and Devin Setoguchi added an empty-netter with 2.1 seconds remaining.

“Some nights we get 45 (shots),” Thornton said. “For whatever reason, they played well, kept us on the outside. I think we were in the penalty box a little more than we should have. Good win.”

Antti Niemi earned his third shutout of the season with 26 saves. He got help from his defenders, who picked up wild rebounds before the Bruins could capitalize. Niemi hasn’t lost in regulation in eight starts.

Ryane Clowe and Marc-Edouard Vlasic assisted on both goals for San Jose, which has won 7 of 8 and is moving up the Western Conference standings.

“It is going to be tight right down to Game 82,” Thornton said. “We have been playing well lately and we have to continue it to get into the playoffs.”

Tim Thomas made 16 saves for the Bruins, who had won three straight. The shot Thomas didn’t get to was Couture’s backhand.

“If there’s an area that they were better than us it was in the battle. They won more battles than we did and that’s where I thought the game was decided,” Bruins Coach Claude Julien said. “I don’t think we played a bad game. It was a tight game both ways, but we need to get better along the boards.”

The Sharks’ defense was sharp all game, holding Boston scoreless on four power plays. Boston was booed by its fans on the team’s fourth advantage. They failed to record a shot during Thornton’s 2-minute tripping penalty in the third period.

“I thought our back end did a good job of clearing them up front,” San Jose Coach Todd McLellan said.

Couture, who had missed two games because of the flu, put the Sharks up 1-0 with his 23rd goal. He took a pass from Clowe, skated across the slot and slipped a backhand past Thomas low to the stick side.

 

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