Sharks Overcome Late Deficit, Beat Flyers In Shootout
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Logan Couture and Ryane Clowe scored shootout goals to give San Jose a 5-4 victory over Philadelphia on Wednesday night after the Sharks overcame a three-goal, third-period deficit and an apparent Flyers goal in the final second of overtime.
The Flyers appeared to win it in overtime, but Mike Richards' goal was waved off after a reply showed time expired an instant before the puck crossed the line. In the second period, the Sharks had a goal waved off when officials determined the puck was kicked in by John McCarthy.
The Sharks won for the first time this season when trailing after two periods, while the Flyers lost for the time when leading after two.
Jason Demers, Couture and Joe Pavelski beat Sergei Bobrovsky in a 4-minute span in the third to it.
Demers began the spree with 12:27 left with a wrist shot that ended a 31-game goal drought. Couture poked in a rebound 3:18 later off a shot from Clowe, and Pavelski tied it on a power play with 8:32 left, beating Bobrovsky with a wrist shot.
Philadelphia had a flurry of its own in the second period against former Flyers goalie Antero Niittymaki, with Claude Giroux, Ville Leino and Nikolay Zherdev scoring in a 4:44 span to make it 3-1.
Giroux started the run by knocking in a rebound when a shot by Braydon Coburn was deflected by Jeff Carter. Niittymaki couldn't cover the puck, and Giroux tapped it in for his 100th career point.
Leino's spinning wrist shot from the faceoff circle hit off the far post and bounced in. Zherdev scored 45 seconds later, taking Matt Carle's pass and flipping it under Niittymaki's leg.
San Jose appeared to score 16 seconds later, when Scott Nichol took a wraparound shot, and the puck deflected off McCarthy's skate and in. The goal was disallowed after replay officials determined McCarthy kicked the puck.
Scott Hartnell also scored his first goal in 11 games for Philadelphia.
Clowe opened the scoring on a deflection with 5 seconds left in the first period.
NOTES: Carter's assist on Giroux's goal was his 300th career point. ... Niittymaki started in place of Antti Niemi, the goalie who led Chicago past Philadelphia last year in the Stanley Cup Finals.
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