SAN JOSE, Calif. - Some things apparently never change this season for the San Jose Sharks when they play at SAP Center.

The first team to score always wins. It happened again Saturday night when Sharks defenseman Brent Burns broke a scoreless game with a goal early in the second period, igniting a 7-0 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Sharks are 6-0-0 when scoring first at home and 0-12-0 when giving up the first goal.

Tomas Hertl scored two goals, and goaltender Martin Jones made 28 saves for his fourth shutout of the season for the Sharks (19-18-2).

Left winger Matt Nieto, right winger Joe Pavelski, right winger Melker Karlsson and right winger Joonas Donskoi also scored for the Sharks who set a season high for goals in a game. But it was Burns' goal, his 17th of the season, that got them rolling.

"That was huge because I thought we were a little tentative," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "We were almost in that waiting-for-something-to-go-wrong mindset. He just said screw it and took the puck. That changed the game for us. It really did, that play changed the game. That's how we have to play. That was a world-class play by a world-class player."

Burns took a pass at center ice, made a nifty move around Maple Leafs center Nazem Kadri and bolted past Toronto defenseman Dion Phaneuf in the left circle. Burns darted toward the crease and beat Jonathan Bernier with a wrist shot to the upper right corner.

"Obviously the stats show for every team if you score first it can change a game," Burns said. "I think it's important for us to jump ahead at home here and start getting some bounces. That was key. We feel good about our team, we feel good at home. This is a place we've always loved to play. Just been some tough bounces."

Jonathan Bernier gave up seven goals on 31 shots for the Maple Leafs (16-17-7). San Jose improved to 10-1-0 in its past 11 games against Toronto, which hasn't won at SAP Center since Jan. 11, 2011. The Sharks swept the two-game season series.

"The way we got beat tonight, I don't know how you want me to explain it," Phaneuf said. "We got beat handily in their building. We started out fine. I thought we were skating. They seemed to turn the tide in the second period and we couldn't respond.".

After a scoreless first period, the Sharks built a 4-0 lead in the second on goals by Burns, Nieto, Pavelski and Hertl. They tied their season high for goals in a period, matching a four-goal night in the third period against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Nov. 22.

Burns made it 1-0 at 4:18 of the second period. Nieto increased San Jose's lead to 2-0 at 8:09 of the second with a short-handed goal as the Sharks made the Maple Leafs pay for a bad change.

Burns cleared the puck along the right boards and Sharks left winger Tommy Wingels tracked it down, igniting a 2-on-1 rush. Wingels zipped a cross-ice pass to Nieto, who beat Bernier with a wrist shot.

"I thought we started off great," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "We did lots of good things. But then we stayed out too long on the PP. They beat us to the puck and we give up a short-handed goal. lt's that simple. We should have changed earlier instead of trying to milk it one more time and they caught us. Until then, I thought we were still good. We got off-kilter."

The Sharks made it 3-0 at 15:33 when Pavelski scored his 21st goal of the season, taking a pass from Hertl in the slot and ripping a wrist shot past Bernier.

Hertl scored his fifth goal of the season with 2:31 left in the second period, hammering a rebound past Bernier to make it 4-0.

DeBoer shuffled his lines, hoping to spark more scoring, and the moves appeared to pay off, especially for Hertl, who moved from third-line center to top-line left wing, skating with Pavelski and center Joe Thornton. The Sharks responded by setting a new season high for goals in a game

"I'm so happy tonight," Hertl said. "This was a great game for the team. I'm not just happy for me. I'm happy for Donskoi, Nieto and Melker. Everybody needs to score and all four guys scored. It was a great game for everybody. I'm so happy we scored on our line with (Thornton) and Pav. It was so fun today. I thank those guys for helping me."

Karlsson scored on a breakaway at 4:10 of the third period, extending San Jose's lead to 5-0, and Donskoi scored on a wraparound at 9:38. Hertl scored his sixth of the season and third in five games on a rebound at 11:22 to make it 7-0.

NOTES: Sharks C Chris Tierney, who was recalled Friday from the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League, was in the lineup, replacing injured F Dainius Zubrus (upper body). Tierney centered the fourth line. Zubrus is day to day. ... Sharks RW Ben Smith and D Matt Tennyson were healthy scratches. ... Toronto C Byron Froese returned to the lineup after missing four games with a lower-body injury. ... Maple Leafs D Frank Corrado was in the lineup after being a healthy scratch the previous six games. ... Maple Leafs D Martin Marincin, RW Mark Arcobello and G Antoine Bibeau were healthy scratches. ... Maple Leafs G Jonathan Bernier, who backed up James Reimer on Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings, started for the 11th time in the past 12 games. ... Sharks G Martin Jones made his seventh straight start.