Sharks Give Up 4 Goals In 3rd, Lose To Flyers
SAN JOSE (CBS / AP) -- Matt Read, Michael Raffl and Claude Giroux scored in a span of 2:45 early in the third period to erase a one-goal deficit and lead the Philadelphia Flyers past San Jose 5-2 on Monday night for their first win over the Sharks since 2000.
Mark Streit and Jacob Voracek also scored and Steve Mason made 20 saves for the Flyers, who had 11 losses and two ties in the series since beating the Sharks on Dec. 21, 2000.
Sharks rookie Matt Nieto scored twice in the first period for his first career multigoal game, but that lead was erased in a flash early in the third period when Antti Niemi was sent to the bench as San Jose lost for the fourth time in five games.
The Sharks have just four goals in those five games but were in position to get the win before the Flyers took advantage of shaky goaltending by Niemi and lackluster overall play from San Jose to set a franchise record with their 10th win this season when trailing in the third period.
Read started the onslaught when his shot on the rush deflected off defenseman Matt Irwin's stick to tie the game 1:11 into the third.
The Flyers took the lead just 1:18 later when Niemi gave up a big rebound on Erik Gustafsson's point shot that went right to Raffl in the slot.
A neutral-ice turnover by Irwin led to Giroux's 18th goal on a shot that deflected off Niemi's glove, stunning the home crowd 1:27 after Philadelphia took the lead.
Giroux also set up Voracek's late goal that sealed the win, finishing the game with a goal and two assists.
The Flyers had controlled play since the first period but were unable to get the equalizer until early in the third. Niemi made a nice save early in the second against Wayne Simmonds, and Scott Hartnell and Gustafsson each missed the net on good chances later in the period.
The Sharks almost extended their lead on a late power play but Mason robbed Brent Burns with a glove save to keep San Jose's lead at 2-1 heading into the third.
The teams traded power-play goals early in the first period, with Streit scoring on a point shot through a screen by Simmonds after Nieto was called for hooking in the offensive zone.
Nieto more than made up for his transgression the rest of the period. With Nicklas Grossmann in the box for hooking, Irwin shot the puck into the corner from his own blue line. Tommy Wingels raced to the puck to negate an icing call and sent a perfect feed to Nieto in front of the net for the deflection on his first career power-play goal.
Nieto was the recipient of another nice pass later in the period, when Burns set him up with a blind, backhand pass from the corner that led to his second goal. That gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead that lasted until the third.
NOTES: Flyers D Kimmo Timonen was scratched for the second straight game with a foot injury. ... The Sharks snapped an 0-for-16 slump on the power play with Nieto's first goal.
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