LDN - Sports

Kelly goal lifts Senators past Sharks

[December 08, 2016] SAN JOSE -- In the end it was a bad bounce -- or three -- that cost the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.

Chris Kelly's tiebreaking goal at 18:54 of the third period enabled the Ottawa Senators to beat the Sharks 4-2 at SAP Center.

Kelly picked up a bouncing puck that neither Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic nor Justin Braun could handle at center to break in alone on goalie Martin Jones. Kelly scored just his second goal of the season on the play.

"The puck was bouncing around a lot," Kelly said. "It bounced past the first defender and then got to the second defender's skate and I just tried to tip it through and it was in. I was trying to get it up and fortunately it went in."

"It was a weird goal," Sharks captain Joe Pavelski added. "Sometimes the bounces happen the bounces happen that way. It was bouncing from the far blue line."

Ottawa third-line center Jean-Gabriel Pageau added an empty-net goal with 15.1 seconds left.

"I thought we were the better team from start to finish," Sharks center Logan Couture said. "Unfortunately, we couldn't get the third one."

San Jose, which outshot Ottawa 37-17, saw its three-game winning streak snapped while the Senators won for the second time in five games.

"There was a weird flow to the game," Sharks defenseman Brent Burns said. "Killing penalties, we're on the power play, (and) pucks bouncing all over. It was just one of their weird games. Lot of pucks bouncing tonight."

Burns tied the game with his 11th goal of the season at 6:30 of the third period.

Burns wrist shot from the top of the right circle sailed over the left glove of Ottawa goalie Mike Condon while the teams were skating 4-on-4. San Jose defenseman Paul Martin earned his 300th career point on the lone assist.

"That was an emotional game, a lot of fun, the kind of game you like to play," Condon said. "We wanted to play better with the lead but we kept them at bay and showed a lot of resilience there. We'll take the two points and get out of here as quick as we can."

San Jose carried the momentum it created late in the first into the second period to trim Ottawa's lead by the second intermission.

Couture continued his recent production on the power play as the Sharks center scored his seventh goal in 10 games.

With Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson in the box for holding, Pavelski spotted Couture during a rush and dropped a pass from the right circle to the high slot where his teammate picked the top corner over Condon's left glove for his 10th goal of the season at 8:19.

San Jose, which outshot Ottawa 10-5 in the period, could not gain the equalizer despite going on another power play, and earning a fifth for the game that carried over to the final period.

Ottawa center Tom Pyatt redirected a puck into the net with a high stick that was waved off following a quick review 36 seconds into the period.

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Senators center Chris Kelly (22) shoots and scores as San Jose Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic (44) and goalie Martin Jones (31) defend in the third period at SAP Center at San Jose. The Senators won 4-2. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

The Sharks in the first period looked very much like a team that was playing their first game after four days of being idle. And the visiting Senators took advantage of the hosts' slow start to score twice in the opening eight minutes.

Ottawa broke through on the game's first power play when right wing Mark Stone scored his ninth goal of the season at 3:42. The Senators came in with a hot power play -- 7-for-20 over five games.

With San Jose fourth-line center Tommy Wingels off for a hook, Stone backhanded a rebound over the right pad of Jones after Mike Hoffman's drive toward the net deflected to Stone off the skate of Burns.

The Senators jumped ahead 2-0 less than four minutes later when Karlsson added to his league-leading offensive numbers for a defenseman with his seventh goal. Karlsson intercepted a clearing attempt after Pageau shot wide and beat a screen Jones at 7:19.

"Disappointed we lost," Couture said. "We'll look at video tomorrow and see what we could have done better because there were things we could have done better. When you're tied late in a game you want to at least get a point and we weren't able to."

NOTES: Senators G Mike Condon made his sixth start in place of G Craig Anderson, who returned to Ottawa on Tuesday to be with his wife as she receives cancer treatment. ... Sharks C Logan Couture played four days after having a screw removed from his right ankle. Couture still has five screws from the surgery to repair a broken bone in October 2015. The screw that was removed had been irritating Couture since last month. ... D Dylan DeMelo stepped in to appear for the third time this season as D David Schlemko is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. In addition to Schlemko, San Jose is still without C Tomas Hertl (knee), who is week-to-week. ... Ottawa RW Bobby Ryan returned after missing three games with a hand injury. The Senators continue to play without injured LW Clarke MacArthur (concussion), D Marc Methot (lower body), D Frederik Claesson (lower body) and RW Curtis Lazar (concussion).

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