Labanc's Goal in OT Gives Sharks 5-4 Win Over Canucks
SAN JOSE (AP) -- Kevin Labanc scored 1:53 into overtime and the San Jose Sharks beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-4 on Thursday night.
Labanc also had three assists as the Sharks improved to 4-1-2 over their last seven games. Joe Thornton scored twice for San Jose and added an assist as he moved past Doug Gilmour for 18th place on the NHL list with 1,416 career points.
Labanc's fourth goal of the season came off an assist from Tomas Hertl.
The Canucks lost for the sixth time in seven games, with their lone win during that span against San Jose on Dec. 15.
Vancouver trailed 4-3 before Daniel Sedin scored at 2:09 of the third period to tie it. The Canucks rallied from a 3-1 deficit.
Jake Virtanen scored to bring Vancouver within a goal at 8:49 of the second, and Brock Boeser tied the game at 16:02.
Boeser's goal was his 19th of the season and eighth in 11 games.
Hertl scored for San Jose on a 5-on-3 power play with 1:04 left in the second to give the Sharks a 4-3 lead.
San Jose trailed 1-0 before Thornton tied Gilmour with a goal at 11:52 of the first period. The Sharks took a 2-1 lead at 5:20 of the second when Timo Meier scored his fifth goal.
Brendan Gaunce scored the game's first goal at 1:58 of the first period on a play Jake Virtanen started with a backhand pass to trailer Erik Gudbranson. He fired a shot that Gaunce redirected for his first goal of the season.
Late in the first period, defenseman Michael De Zotto saved a goal when he cleared a puck that got past goalie Jacob Markstrom inches from the net.
NOTES: Canucks D Ben Hutton was a healthy scratch. RW Nikolay Goldobin, a former Shark, also was scratched. . Sharks D Paul Martin had a setback in his recovery from ankle surgery. The injury isn't a recurrence of the same injury. Martin has been on injured reserve since Oct. 12. There is no timetable for his return. . C Logan Couture, out with a concussion he suffered against the Canucks last week, missed his second game. ... The Sharks recalled forwards Marcus Sorenson and Danny O'Regan from the AHL.
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