Sharks Continue To Fall, Lose In SO To Coyotes
Antoine Vermette was tired during overtime. When the Arizona Coyotes had to kill a penalty, too, even more drama was added.
Vermette, who also scored in regulation, netted the lone goal of the shootout to help the Coyotes beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3 on Saturday night.
"That was huge for us, 4-on-3," Vermette said. "That was a big opportunity for them, and we had to like our chances when the team battled through it."
San Jose's Joe Pavelski scored on a power play to tie it midway through the third period. Brett Burns fired a shot from just inside the blue line that Pavelski redirected past Devan Dubnyk for his 200th career goal.
Surviving the Sharks' power play energized the Coyotes and gave them an opening that Vermette converted.
"When you're able to get through that, you come out thinking we have a chance for two points," Arizona coach Dave Tippett said. "It's fun to play here when you win. We'll take it and move on."
Shane Doan scored 52 seconds into the third period to give the Coyotes a 3-2 lead. He followed Sam Gagner's shot and flipped in the rebound.
"Bounces will happen, and they capitalized on the bounces because of our sloppiness," Sharks' center Tommy Wingels said. "We need to earn those bounces for our own side. You lose them when you don't execute."
Vermette and David Schlemko scored in the first to put the Coyotes ahead en route to their third road win in four games.
Dubnyk stopped 40 shots for the Coyotes. Antti Niemi made 22 saves as the Sharks fell to 2-3-2 at home.
"We have to win games," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "We've won six games outright the last 18 and that's not a road that puts you in the playoffs. It's not a road that leads to anything."
Wingels and Andrew Desjardins had goals in the second period to tie it for the Sharks.
Wingels scored the Sharks' first short-handed goal of the season after rookie Barclay Goodrow wrenched the puck free along the boards to create an odd-man attack.
Desjardins scored his first goal of the season after getting an easy pass from Tyler Kennedy, who made a nice play along the boards to control the puck in the neutral zone.
"We had some unbelievable efforts," Dubnyk said. "We played well enough to be up. The one mistake, with the bad rebound on the power play by me, and it's tied."
Vermette opened the scoring with a power-play goal that was set up by Doan. Vermette was able to slip the puck past Niemi after Doan tapped it his way.
Schlemko, recently recalled from Portland of the AHL, scored his first of the season. He has a point in both games in which he has played since being called up.
"I'll keep saying it, he's a good player," Tippett said. "He's on the puck and he's come in and played hard."
NOTES: Coyotes F Mikkel Boedker earned a pair of assists and has 100 in his NHL career. ... Gagner has a point in three straight games and five points in five games. ... Goodrow recorded his second career point in his 10th game. ... The Coyotes have scored a power-play goal in five of their last six games. They were 0 for 18 in their previous four. ... Doan's next game will tie him for 48th on the NHL career list with Adam Oates (1,337). ... Sharks CJoe Thornton had his eight-game point streak snapped.
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