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SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Brent Burns and Patrick Marleau scored goals 49 seconds apart in the first period to lead the San Jose Sharks to their fifth win in six games, 5-1 over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. Bracken Kearns and Logan Couture added goals 1:27 apart in the second period to give each scores in three straight games as the Sharks beat the Oilers for the sixth straight time. Joe Pavelski added a goal and an assist and Antti Niemi made 23 saves for San Jose. Nail Yakupov scored the lone goal for the last-place Oilers, who looked flat to open the new year in the front end of a difficult back-to-back. The Oilers play Friday night at the first-place Anaheim Ducks, who have not lost at home in regulation all season. The Sharks have been nearly as tough at home so far, losing just once in regulation. San Jose needed to go to a shootout in five of its previous eight home games before dispatching the Oilers easily by scoring twice in each of the first two periods against Devan Dubnyk. The Sharks got off to a fast start once again, breaking out to a 2-0 lead in the first period for the 15th time in 41 games this season. San Jose squandered a pair of early power-play chances and needed Niemi to make two pad stops on Sam Gagner on one of them to keep the game scoreless. The Sharks then used great puck movement on their first goal and a takeaway for their second to take the 2-0 lead. Justin Braun got a shot on net from the point and Pavelski sent the rebound to Burns, who knocked it in the short side of the net for his 13th goal. Less than a minute later, Marleau took the puck from Yakupov near the boards and skated to the high slot, where he beat Dubnyk with a wrister for his team-leading 18th goal of the season. San Jose broke it open with the two goals in the second. Kearns, who scored his first career goal at age 32 on Sunday, struck for the third time in as many games when he took a pass from Andrew Desjardins in the slot and one-timed it past an unsuspecting Dubnyk. Couture then took a break out pass from John McCarthy and beat Dubnyk on a breakaway to make it 4-0 and give him 200 career points. Yakupov scored his second goal of the season against the Sharks later in the second and gave an emphatic fist pump that drew boos from the sellout crowd. Those turned to cheers and chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A!" in the third when Pavelski one-timed a shot past Dubnyk just one day after being picked for his second U.S. Olympic team. NOTES: Marleau tied former Shark Owen Nolan for 73rd place all-time with his 422nd career goal. ... McCarthy recorded his first point in 22 games this season. ... F Tyler Kennedy was scratched for San Jose after posting a minus-3 rating Tuesday in Anaheim. ... F Tommy Wingels missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury. ... Yakupov returned for Edmonton after being a healthy scratch Tuesday in Phoenix. ED Belfour Jersey . The German has taken the pole for three straight races -- winning the first two. Hes aiming for a third consecutive win at the Yeongam circuit and, most importantly, a fourth consecutive F1 championship. Chris Chelios Jersey . This week, topics cover the World Series champion Red Sox, John Farrell and what to look forward to this off-season. http://www.officialblackhawksfanstore.co...ckhawks-jersey/. As for regular Olympic spectators, theyre being warned that most travel insurance policies wont cover acts of terrorism or war. The Games in southern Russia, which run from Feb. 7-23, are being staged amid unprecedented security and under global warnings of danger. Tony Esposito Jersey . This is the final meeting of the season between these teams.? The Capitals were 5-4 winners in a shootout Oct. Bobby Hull Jersey . The No. 5 Aztecs held Burton, the Mountain Wests leading scorer, to 11 points, 10 below his average, in beating the Wolf Pack 73-58 on Saturday night.The St. Louis Cardinals had a major need at shortstop and signed a veteran free agent who, while having PED issues, has been a potent hitter throughout his career. Numbers Game looks at the Cardinals addition of Jhonny Peralta. The Cardinals Get: SS Jhonny Peralta. Peralta, 31, has been one of the more productive shortstops in baseball since sticking as a regular in 2005. From that point, Peralta has slugged 152 home runs, behind only Hanley Ramirez, J.J. Hardy and Troy Tulowitzki in that span, and Peraltas cumulative fWAR of 23.0 ranks seventh at the position since 2005. More recently, Peralta has a fWAR of 11.0 over the last three seasons, which ranks fourth among shortstops. So, weve established that Peralta can hit the ball, but he deserves credit for fielding too. Earlier in his career, with Cleveland, Peralta typically had a negative Defensive Runs Saved and negative Ultimate Zone Rating, indications that his glovework -- and especially his range -- werent necessarily up to snuff. However, while Peralta isnt a Gold Glove candidate, hes fared significantly better in Detroit and does have a strong arm, so he doesnt pose an immediate problem in the field. He is on the north side of 30, though, so it shouldnt come as a surprise if his range becomes an issue. The main concern with Peralta is how his 2013 season was sideswiped by a 50-game suspension for use of performance-enhancing drugs. He did hit a career-high .303 in 2013, before getting suspended, with an .815 OPS that was the third-highest of his career (following a .689 OPS in 2012, his lowest in a full MLB season), so its fair to wonder whether Peralta will be as productive if hes clean. It would probably be reasonable to assume that he wont be aas productive.dddddddddddd Nevertheless, even if Peralta isnt likely to duplicate his 2013 season for the next four years, he should be an upgrade on punchless Pete Kozma at shortstop for the Cardinals. St. Louis shortstops had an OPS of .583 last season, ranking 28th, so anything resembling competent offensive play would represent an upgrade. Peralta has fared well against the National League throughout his career, hitting .301 with an .856 OPS in 156 career Inter-League games. The Tigers reacted quickly when Peralta was suspended last summer, dealing for slick-fielding Jose Iglesias, who doesnt have Peraltas bat, but is much better in the field. Peralta is signed for four years and $52-million, significant money even for a starting shortstop, particularly because of the risk that, by the end of this deal, Peralta either may not be able to play shortstop or he may simply be a liability in the field. If his bat happens to slow down at the same time, the Cardinals could really regret the length of the contract, but its easy to see the appeal in adding a middle infielder who has pop in his bat, particularly when contrasted with the relative lack of offence that the Cardinals received from their shortstops last season. If Peralta happens to hit 12-15 home runs per season and turns out to be worth 8-10 wins total over the next four years, then hes probably fulfilled his side of the deal. If hes not capable of doing that clean, then the Cardinals are going to regret rolling the dice on a player caught using performance-enhancing drugs in 2013. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '