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 Defenseman Brent Burns scored his 11th goal of the season at 2:13 in
overtime and added two assists Thursday as the Sharks defeated the
Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4, in a game in which both teams came back
from two-goal disadvantages.
The Sharks (16-14-1) have opened a five-game trip with two wins and
are 12-51 away from home and 4-9-0 at home.
"It's really unexplainable," said left winger Matt Nieto, who scored
his fourth goal of the season to tie the game in the third period.
"I think we're trying to find the answer to that. Another good road
win, just finding ways to make points."
It was the second straight overtime loss by the Maple Leafs
(10-13-7).
The Maple Leafs trailed 2-0 early in the game before taking a 3-2
lead in the second period and a 4-2 lead in the third.
"They dominated us early and really got on us," Maple Leafs coach
Mike Babcock said. "We obviously had a little talk and competed way
harder in the second."
But the Sharks have been finding a way in the road.
"There's no doubt there's pressure there (at home)," Sharks coach
Peter DeBoer said. "The other thing at home, we haven't scored the
first goal very often. Tonight we got the first goal. We're better
playing with the lead, we didn't show it tonight. We should be
smarter. We got away from our game plan a little bit. We knew
Toronto was going to push back in the second. We knew they weren't
going to be happy with their first period. We didn't handle it well.
We turned it into a pond hockey game in the second period and it
nearly cost us two points."
Centers Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau and defenseman Marc-Edouard
Vlasic also scored for the Sharks.
Centers Peter Holland and Leo Komarov, left winger James van
Riemsdyk and right winger Michael Grabner scored for the Maple
Leafs.
Garret Sparks started in goal for Toronto but was replaced at 11:32
of the first period by Jonathan Bernier after San Jose's second goal
because of an injury. Sparks made 13 saves and Bernier stopped 26
shots.
Sharks goaltender Martin Jones made 27 saves.
Grabner scored his second goal of the season on his own rebound at
1:59 of the third period.
San Jose cut the lead to 4-3 when Vlasic scored his fourth goal of
the season on a shot from the point at 3:10.
Soon after, Bernier stopped a penalty shot by San Jose center Chris
Tierney.
The Sharks tied the game at 11:49 of the third on Nieto goal from
the low slot.
Burns scored the winner on a pass from center Joe Thornton.
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The Sharks started fast.
Pavelski scored his 15th goal of the season on a power play at 2:01
of the first period, six seconds after Toronto right winger
Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau was penalized for tripping.
The Sharks needed only 30 seconds to score on their second power
play of the game at 11:32. Marleau beat Sparks on the glove side for
his 13th goal of the season. It came with defenseman Matt Hunwick
serving an interference penalty.
The injured Sparks was replaced by Bernier after the goal.
Holland scored his fifth goal of the season, from the slot, at 14:48
to cut the Sharks' lead to 2-1 before Komarov tied the game with his
11th goal of the season at 4:50 of the second period.
"The first period, we were sitting around and watching them do what
they want," Holland said. "They controlled the play, they were in
our end cycling the puck. It was like they had all the time in the
world to play in our end. In the second period, we finally started
to execute what we needed to do. We shut down their time and space
and we started to play in their end more."
The Maple Leafs took a 3-2 lead at 19:14 of the second period when
van Riemsdyk banked a shot off Jones from behind the net for his 10h
goal of the season.
"We started good. I think the last 10 minutes of the first period
and obviously the second just wasn't good enough for us," Burns
said. "You know, we heard about it and it's big to see the guys go
out and fight back, especially after they scored that fourth one, to
come back and tie it up."
NOTES: Sharks C Ben Smith (concussion) practiced Wednesday, but
coach Peter DeBoer said he was not yet ready to come off injured
reserve. ... San Jose C Tomas Hertl (lower body) returned after
missing the win in Montreal on Tuesday. ... The Maple Leafs end a
four-game homestand Saturday with a game against the Los Angeles
Kings. ... The Sharks play the third game on a five-game trip Friday
against the Ottawa Senators. ... Toronto C Nick Spaling left the
game with an upper-body injury on the game's first shift.
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