The Sharks beat the Lightning 2-1 for their 1st home win since November

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Tyler Toffoli and Mario Ferraro scored and the San Jose Sharks snapped an eight-game winless streak by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 on Thursday night.

Toffoli used a nifty toe drag to score his 15th goal of the season midway through the first and Ferraro added a goal in the second to give the Sharks their first home win since Nov. 29.

Yaroslav Askarov made 24 saves.

San Jose was 0-7-1 in its last eight games and had just one win in 12 games in a stretch that started with an 8-1 loss at Tampa on Dec. 5.

Anthony Cirelli scored for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves.

Lightning: Tampa Bay had won six of eight headed into this three-game California swing but wasn't able to generate much against San Jose.

Sharks: After being completely outclassed in the loss at Tampa last month, the young Sharks looked much better on home ice against one of the NHL's top teams

The Lightning had a chance to tie it in the third period when Macklin Celebrini was sent off for roughing. During the power play, Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman got hit in the ear by a clearing attempt that went right to Barclay Goodrow for a breakaway. Vasilevskiy made the save but Hedman had to go straight to the locker room as he was bleeding from the ear.

Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic played in his 1,297th career game and first of the season after being sidelined by an upper-body injury. Vlasic had the primary assist on Toffoli's goal and needs three more games to join Nicklas Lidstrom (1,564 for Detroit) and Ray Bourque (1,518 for Boston) as the only defenseman to play 1,300 games for one franchise.

The Lightning visit Los Angeles on Saturday night, while the Sharks host New Jersey that day.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Nick Paul is checked into the boards by San Jose Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic (44) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

San Jose Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov allows a goal by Tampa Bay Lightning center Anthony Cirelli during the second period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Mitchell Chaffee (41) fights with San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro (38) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro (38) is congratulated by teammate after scoring a goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the second period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) looks back as the puck goes into the net for a goal by San Jose Sharks center Tyler Toffoli during the first period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

San Jose Sharks center Tyler Toffoli, center, celebrates with teammates after scoring a gaol against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Costas Simitis, former prime minister of Greece and the architect of the country’s joining the common European currency, the euro, has died at age 88, state TV ERT reported.

Simitis was taken to a hospital in the city of Corinth early Sunday morning from his holiday home west of Athens, unconscious and without a pulse, the hospital’s director was quoted as saying by Greek media. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.

Simitis, a co-founder of the Socialist PASOK party in 1974, eventually became the successor to the party’s founding leader, Andreas Papandreou, with whom he had an often contentious relationship that shaped the party’s nature. Simitis was a low-key pragmatist where Papandreou was a charismatic, fiery populist. He was also a committed pro-European, while Papandreou banked on strong opposition to Greece’s joining what was then the European Economic Community in the 1970s, before changing tack once he became prime minister.

When the profligate first four years of socialist rule, from 1981 to 1985, resulted in a rapidly deteriorating economy, Papandreou elevated Simitis to be finance minister and oversee a tight austerity program. Finances improved, inflation was partly tamed, but Simitis was pushed to resign in 1987 when Papandreou, eyeing an upcoming election, announced a generous wages policy, undermining the goals of the austerity program.

The socialists returned to power in 1993, but Papandreou was ailing, and he finally resigned the premiership in January 1996. A tight two rounds of voting among the socialist lawmakers unexpectedly elevated Simitis to the post of prime minister.

Simitis considered Greece’s entry into the eurozone, in January 2001, as the signature achievement of his premiership. But he also helped secure the 2004 Olympic Games for Athens and presided over a vast program of infrastructure building, including a brand new airport and two subway lines, to help host the games. He also helped Cyprus join the European Union in 2004.

His critics on the right and left did their best to denigrate his legacy, highlighting a dubious debt swap concluded after the country had joined the eurozone as an attempt to massage the debt numbers.

In the end, it was determined opposition from his own party, including trade union leaders, to pension reform in 2001 that fatally weakened Simitis’ administration. He decided to resign his party post and not contest the 2004 election, five months before the Olympics, rather than face certain defeat to the conservatives.

George Papandreou, son of the socialist party’s founder, succeeded him as party leader, and in 2008 expelled Simitis from the PASOK parliamentary group after the two men clashed over policies, including Papandreou’s proposal to hold a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon. Simitis left parliament in 2009, but not before issuing a prescient warning that financial mismanagement would bring the country under the tutelage of the International Monetary Fund, which would impose harsh austerity. In the end, it was the IMF, jointly with the EU, that imposed a harsh regime on a bankrupt country in 2010.

Costas Simitis was born on June 23, 1936, the younger son of two politically active parents. His lawyer father Georgios was a member of the left-leaning resistance “government” during the German occupation and his mother, Fani, was an active feminist.

Simitis studied law at the University of Marburg, in Germany, in the 1950s, and economics and politics at the London School of Economics in the early 1960s. He later taught law at the University of Athens. His elder brother Spiros, who died in 2023, was a noted legal scholar in Germany, specializing in data protection.

Simitis is survived by his wife of 60 years, Daphne, and two daughters.

FILE - Greece's Prime Minister Costas Simitis declares a razor-thin victory over conservative opponents following general elections, in Athens on Monday, April 10, 2000. Costas Simitis, a Prime Minister of Greece from 1996 to 2004 and the architect of the country's joining the common European currency, the euro, has died at 88, state TV ERT reports.(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, File)

FILE - Greece's Prime Minister Costas Simitis declares a razor-thin victory over conservative opponents following general elections, in Athens on Monday, April 10, 2000. Costas Simitis, a Prime Minister of Greece from 1996 to 2004 and the architect of the country's joining the common European currency, the euro, has died at 88, state TV ERT reports. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, File)