Tommy Wingels scores winner to lead Sharks past Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. — Tommy Wingels scored the game-winning goal to lift the San Jose Sharks over the Florida Panthers 4-2 on Thursday night.

Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns also scored for the Sharks while Martin Jones made 22 saves.

Jason Demers scored his first two goals of the season, both in the first period, for the Panthers. James Reimer, in his third start in six games, made 25 stops. Jaromir Jagr recorded an assist.

Wingels gave the Sharks a 3-2 lead at 8:53 of the third period. He grabbed the puck off the faceoff and backhanded it past Reimer.

Couture added an empty-net goal with 57 seconds left to make it 4-2.

The Sharks have won two straight games after losing their previous three.

Pavelski tied the score 2-all 1:53 into the second. He picked off the puck when Florida's Alex Petrovic tried to clear from the sideboards and his shot from low in the left circle went over the shoulder of Reimer on the glove side.

Trailing 2-0, Burns skated in from the left side on Reimer and shoved in the puck in with 3:42 left in the first.

The Panthers took a 1-0 lead on Demers' first goal. Demers' shot from the top of the right circle deflected off the stick of Wingels and got past Jones at 5:09.

Demers's second goal came a little over 2 minutes later. Jagr took a shot from the right circle that bounced off Aleksander Barkov and dropped into the crease. Demers skated in and poked in the puck at 7:26 to make it 2-0.

Demers, in his ninth NHL season, played for the Sharks from 2009 to 2014 before being traded to the Dallas Stars in November 2014. Demers was signed as a free agent by Florida in July 2016.

The Panthers killed off a 5-on-3 penalty for 34 seconds midway through the second period.

NOTES: Jones has started 10 consecutive games for the Sharks. . Pavelski leads the Sharks with 14 points. . Panthers D Dylan McIlrath, acquired from the New York Rangers for D Steven Kampfer and a 2018 conditional seventh-round draft pick, was scratched. . LW Jussi Jokinen returned to the Panthers after missing nine games with a knee injury. . The Panthers took warmups with camouflage jerseys in honor of Military Appreciation night.

UP NEXT:

Sharks: Visit Tampa Bay on Saturday.

Panthers: Host the New York Islanders on Saturday.