Perron scores twice as Red Wings win 5-3 to hand Sharks their 9th straight loss
David Perron scored the tying and go-ahead goals in the third period, including the winner with 1:30 left, and the Detroit Red Wings beat San Jose 5-3 on Tuesday night to push the Sharks' losing streak to nine games.
Daniel Sprong and J.T. Compher also scored for Detroit. Lucas Raymond had three assists, and Michael Rasmussen added an empty-net goal with six seconds remaining. Alex Lyon stopped 24 shots.
Fabian Zetterlund, Justin Bailey and Alexander Barabanov scored for the NHL-worst Sharks (9-26-3), who dropped 11 in a row to begin the season. Kaapo Kahkonen made 26 saves.
The Red Wings had lost three of four and 10 of 13, but they started their three-game California swing on a positive note.
"We're fighting for our lives," Lyon said. "Every point is massive right now. Huge victory for us on the road."
With the score tied 3-all, a centering feed by Perron went off the foot of Sharks defenseman Kyle Burroughs and in, with Dylan Larkin driving to the net.
"I saw Larks on the backside," Perron said. "Obviously, if you see the skate … I feel like when there's (a few minutes left), it's always good to kind of throw it towards the net and this time it worked in our favor where it hit their skate."
Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said Perron and his linemates drove the team's performance.
"He was great all night," Lalonde said. "That line was our best line by far. And he was playing hard, the right way from the opening faceoff. Glad he got rewarded with the game-winner."
The teams entered the third period tied at 2.
"It's unfortunate," Sharks forward William Eklund said. "They're getting a lot of bounces that we aren't getting right now, so it's tough."
Barabanov put San Jose up 3-2 midway through the third, recording his 100th NHL point. He skated all the way to the goal line, spun and wristed a shot past Lyon.
But minutes later, Perron answered on the power play for Detroit on a one-timer from the left side on the rush off a pass by Sprong.
"We've got to play winning hockey, and I've said this before: We just completely, at the wrong time, turn it over, fall asleep on the penalty kill," Sharks coach David Quinn said. "It's clear as day what our responsibilities are and we fall asleep. It's not quite 60 minutes yet for us. It's certainly a lot better but I'm tired of being just better. That doesn't matter. You want to win hockey games and right now we're not."
Compher gave Detroit a 2-1 lead six minutes into the second period on a wrist shot that fluttered off the glove of Kahkonen and into the net.
San Jose answered when Bailey tipped in a shot from the point by Mario Ferraro with just more than a minute left in the second.
The teams also traded goals in the first period. Sprong, after winning a faceoff on the power play, found space in the slot and drilled a one-timer shot past Kahkonen off a pass by Raymond to put Detroit up 1-0.
The Sharks tied it late in the period on Zetterlund's 11th goal. Zetterlund poked at a rebound off a wrist shot by Mikael Granlund from in close, and the puck eventually trickled in after Lyon could not cover it in the crease.
UP NEXT
Red Wings: Visit the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.
Sharks: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night.
