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SAN JOSE Edmonton Oilers T-Shirts Authentic , Calif. (AP) — The San Jose Sharks have been struggling to score on the power play early this season. Splitting up star defensemen Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson to put them on different units helped do the trick.Logan Couture had his third career hat trick and the Sharks scored three times on the power play to beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 Thursday night in their first game back from a five-game road trip.“It felt better as a participant on the power play and I’m sure it looked better from up top,” Couture said. “Both those guys are comfortable in that spot. They both wanted to be there. I think that gives us two strong units now.”Each one got off to a fast start as Couture and Joonas Donskoi scored power-play goals 27 seconds apart in the first period following a double-minor against Kyle Okposo for high-sticking.Joe Pavelski also scored on a power play in the third, giving the Sharks three goals with the man advantage after netting just two in the first six games.“Every once in a while it gets hot and cold. It’s about sticking with it,” Pavelski said. “We kind of talked about just getting back to certain things that make us successful on it. We played pretty fast on it, pretty direct at times, won some faceoffs and some goals came off it. So that’s a good formula for us. It’s always been.”Couture added an even-strength goal in the third off a feed from Evander Kane and capped the night with an empty-net goal.Martin Jones made 24 saves for the Sharks.Jake McCabe scored for the Sabres, who fell to 1-2 on their five-game Western swing. Carter Hutton made 34 saves.The Sabres failed to convert on five chances with the man advantage and gave up three power-play goals.“When special teams are struggling as much as it is and power plays are struggling, you’ve got to go back to work and go back to simplicity,” McCabe said. “Look at their power play — it was nothing special, they’re getting pucks to the net and bodies to the net and it creates chaos and it’s tough to defend.”The Sharks have had a rough go on the power play early this season as they work on incorporating Karlsson into the unit. San Jose converted just two of its first 21 chances with the man advantage before capitalizing early against the Sabres when Okposo was called for high-sticking Rourke Chartier.Late in the first power play Edmonton Oilers Hoodies Authentic , Karlsson’s shot from just inside the boards deflected off Donskoi and into the net to give San Jose the lead and another chance with the man advantage.The Sharks didn’t take long to convert that one as Couture won an offensive zone draw and got the puck back from Burns on top of the circle and beat Hutton for his second goal of the season.That was part of seven power-play chances in a penalty-filled first period that featured only 8:35 of even-strength play. The Sabres were unable to convert their three chances, generating just two shots on goal and one off a post by Casey Mittelstadt.“You put an emphasis on 5-on-5 but it takes more than that to win a hockey game. You’ve got to score on the power plays and kill penalties and we didn’t do that,” Okposo said. “So we have to put together the whole package.”Buffalo’s best chance came on a flurry late in the period, but Jones made a key save and Couture blocked a shot by Marco Scandella when Jones was out of position.The Sabres got on the board early in the second when McCabe beat Jones with a shot from the circle that went through a screen.NOTES: Couture also had hat tricks against Vancouver in 2016 and the Islanders in 2017. … Kane had two assists in his first game against the Sabres since being traded to the Sharks last February. … San Jose last scored three power-play goals in a game on Dec. 21, 2017, vs. Vancouver. … Sharks C Joe Thornton missed his fifth straight game with swelling in his surgically repaired right knee.UP NEXTSabres: At the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.Sharks: Host the New York Islanders on Saturday. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) The new owner of the Carolina Hurricanes has a soft spot for his team’s old identity – the Hartford Whalers.In the month since Tom Dundon assumed control of the Hurricanes, they’ve brought back the old ”Brass Bonanza” fight song, stocked the shelves in the team store with that beloved whale-tail logo and have discussed bringing back the Whalers, too – if only for a future turn-back-the-clock night.Under his leadership Edmonton Oilers Hats Authentic , the Hurricanes have done a 180-degree turn in the way they view, market and appreciate their past.”It’s ours, right? I mean, it’s who we were. It’s part of the history,” Dundon said in an interview with The Associated Press. ”To me, it makes a lot of sense. … This was too easy. `How could I not?’ was probably the better question.”In the month since Dundon bought a majority share of the team from longtime owner Peter Karmanos Jr., the 46-year-old Dallas businessman has made several changes – most visibly, the embracing of who the Hurricanes were before they became the Hurricanes.That’s a drastic shift from their approach under Karmanos. He purchased the Whalers in 1994 and moved the franchise to North Carolina three years later, never looking back after seven consecutive losing seasons in Connecticut and complaints about attendance at what was then known as the Hartford Civic Center.That’s not the case anymore.The Hurricanes are selling Whalers T-shirts and jerseys – with that distinctive ”H” formed in the empty space between a ”W” and a whale tail – in their team store. They occasionally play ”Brass Bonanza” during stops in play. And Dundon says he’s working with the league on a plan to ”wear the uniform and sort of make it part of what we do” as part of a nostalgia night.”I think it’s really good-looking stuff, so for me it was like Custom Edmonton Oilers Jerseys , this is great gear, and this is where we’ve come from, and you know, I think it’s fun,” Dundon said. ”And so for me, this is supposed to be fun, it’s entertainment, and we’re supposed to care about the team, and you see something like that that looks good and creates something to talk about and something to enjoy.”Not surprisingly, the Whalers’ identity has long had a strong sentimental attraction throughout the hockey world – especially in their former home.The state of Connecticut is selling Whalers license plates for $60 to help fund new facilities at a children’s hospital. And just last week www.officialhockeypanthersshop.com , Gov. Dan Malloy issued an open letter to Dundon to invite the Hurricanes back to the Hartford area for an outdoor game at Rentschler Field, the UConn football team’s home field, or to play a regular-season game at their former home rink.Wrote Malloy: ”In short, the Whalers’ spirit is alive and well in Hartford.”In North Carolina, though, Dundon’s arrival and subsequent appreciation for the team’s green-and-blue past has brought some buzz back to a team that is making a push for just its second playoff appearance since winning the Stanley Cup in 2006. He also has quashed those pesky, persistent relocation rumors that have plagued the franchise for years.Dundon says his fans-first ownership style was influenced by a pair of Dallas-based team owners – Mark Cuban of the NBA’s Mavericks, and Jerry Jones of the NFL’s Cowboys. He ”had a front-row seat to everything they did” as the Mavericks transformed from cellar-dweller to NBA champion.”I saw what they did with that brand over 10 years, and I don’t think anyone would have believed that the Mavericks could ever be what they became,” Dundon said. ”And with the Cowboys … Jerry has a constant focus on engaging fans and bringing attention to that brand. He thinks Florida Panthers T-Shirts Authentic , probably, way bigger than I do and takes bigger risks. He’s just a genius at how he operates that team. So I’ve watched these things. I don’t think I’m going to do anything exactly like anyone else, but I’d like to think I can learn from seeing it.””We want to make sure that the team’s interesting, and we’re interesting, and right now the story is, the team’s going to make the playoffs and there’s an ownership change,” Dundon said. ”Hopefully in the future, it’s about all the winning we’re doing.”—