Final Score: San Jose 3, Minnesota 1

San Jose, CA (Sports Network) - Evgeni Nabokov made 22 saves and Patrick Marleau had a goal and an assist to lead San Jose to a 3-1 win over Minnesota, handing the Wild consecutive losses for the first time this season.

Mike Grier and Joe Thornton also scored for the Sharks, who won for the fourth time in five contests and beat the Wild for the just the second time in the last seven meetings. San Jose got revenge for a 4-1 loss at Minnesota on October 21.

"I think this was a great 60-minute effort," Nabokov said. "The score would have been much bigger but Manny (Fernandez) kept them in the game. He played great. I thought we played a very good game tonight."

Todd White scored and Fernandez made 27 stops for the Wild, who fell to Nashville Saturday night. This marked Minnesota's third defeat in four games, although the Wild still lead the Northwest Division by three points over Vancouver.

"All the guys in general, we played hard," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "You play a good team and you play with (just) two centers, what are you going to do? I thought we were fine, penalty killing was great, the only thing, we couldn't stay out of the (penalty) box a little more, so we could play 5-on-5 and have a chance to get a goal or two."

Fernandez stopped all 17 shots he faced in the second period to keep his team at a 2-1 deficit. That included a stop on a point-blank backhander by Ryane Clowe in the final minute.

Minnesota hit a shot off the post at 9:26 of the third.

Fernandez continued to frustrate the Sharks, even though San Jose led. Marleau had a goal waved off at 5:46 of the third when he kicked the puck into the net. The replay was briefly reviewed before the video goal judge agreed with the referee's original call.

Nabokov then made a great stop in front to keep San Jose ahead, and the Sharks sealed the victory when Marleau scored with 4:55 left. Mark Smith passed the puck from above the left circle to the slot for Marleau's one-timer, with the puck blistering past the glove of Fernandez.

Grier scored at 5:41 of the first. Marleau sent a backhand pass from the right circle in front to Grier.

Thornton scored 4:10 later. Matt Carle took the shot that bounced off a defensemen, and as it was going to go past the net, Thornton redirected it into the goal on the right side of Fernandez.

White's tally came at 13:59 of the first. From behind the net, Pierre-Marc Bouchard centered the puck right in front, and as he fell down White flicked it over Nabokov's left shoulder.

Game Notes

At 4:44 of the first, San Jose's Jonathan Cheechoo took a puck in his face after a blue line shot from teammate Christian Ehrhoff. Cheechoo received a facial laceration, but returned at the start of the second period...This was the 14th straight start for Fernandez in goal. That is a Wild franchise record.

11/08 02:35:45 ET