Brent Burns scored in overtime helping the Sharks overcome a two-goal deficit in the third period to beat the Maple Leafs in Toronto, in a back-and-forth game at Air Canada Centre on Thursday night, 5-4.
Burns’ wrist shot from the top of the circle deflected in off of Toronto’s Peter Holland at 2:13 of the extra session, giving the Sharks their sixth straight win in Toronto. They improved to 2-0 on a five-game road trip, and are 12-5-1 on the road.
Leading 3-2 after the second, the Leafs scored their fourth consecutive goal at 1:59 of the third. Michael Grabner’s original attempt hit Brenden Dillon’s skate between the circles, but the Toronto forward stayed with the puck and made it 4-2.
The Sharks, who blew a two-goal lead themselves earlier in the game, replied with a pair of scores. The first came on a relatively harmless looking Marc-Edouard Vlasic shot that made its way through traffic and Jonathan Bernier’s short side at 3:10.
On the tying goal, Joonas Donskoi’s hard work in front of the net created some chaos in front of Bernier, and Chris Tierney backhanded a pass to Matt Nieto in front, as Nieto buried his fourth goal at 11:49.
Tierney’s primary assist made up for a penalty shot he couldn’t convert with 14:54 to go and the Sharks trailing by a goal.
Toronto erased an early 2-0 hole to storm back and lead 3-2 at the second intermission.
The Leafs got on the board courtesy of a rare defensive zone turnover by Vlasic, who gave the puck away to Holland. The forward took a couple of strides towards the net and whipped in a wrist shot at 14:48 of the first period.
After getting outshot 20-9 in the opening frame, a season-high for shots in a period for the Sharks, Toronto responded with a strong second period to take its first lead.
Leo Komarov tied it at 2-2. After an offensive zone faceoff win by the Leafs, Donskoi blocked a Nazem Kadri blast between the circles. Komarov corralled the loose disc, and waited for Jones to commit before sliding it over the line at 4:50.
A preventable goal came with less than a minute to go in the second. The Leafs’ James van Riemsdyk won a puck battle with Dillon, and managed to bank the puck into the Sharks’ net off of Jones from behind the line, giving Toronto its first lead at 3-2.
San Jose came out with a significant territorial edge in jumping ahead on a pair of power play goals. Burns set up Joe Pavelski for a one-timer just 2:01 into the game, and later Pavelski slid the rubber over to Patrick Marleau in the high slot for another score at 11:32.
Both early goals came against rookie Garret Sparks, who departed with an injury after Marleau’s 13th of the season midway through the first.
Pavelski and Burns each finished with three points, with one goal and two assists each.
The Sharks, 10-1-0 in their last 11 games against the Leafs, host Toronto on Jan. 9.
Special teams
After not getting a single power play on Tuesday for the first time since March 28, 2013, San Jose was 2-for-3. The Sharks had been 0-for-5 with a man advantage in the previous three games.
Toronto was 0-for-3 on the power play, failing to convert on Justin Braun’s delay of game penalty at 12:26 of the third when the score was tied at 4-4. San Jose is 7-for-7 on the PK in the last four games, and 30-for-33 over the last 13 games (90.9 percent).
In goal
Jones started his fifth straight and ninth in the last 10, and allowed four goals on 32 shots. Eleven of his 14 wins (14-10-1) have come on the road.
Sparks saw just 15 shots over the first 11-plus minutes, allowing two goals, before he left the game. Bernier stopped 24 of 27 in relief, falling to 0-9-2 on the year.
Lineup
Tomas Hertl was reinserted into the lineup as the fourth line center, after missing Tuesday’s game in Montreal with a lower body injury. Barclay Goodrow was scratched.
Up next
The Sharks visit Ottawa on Friday, reaching the midway point of their road trip. They are 3-2-1 in the second half of back-to-backs.
After the Senators, San Jose visits Chicago on Sunday and Los Angeles on Tuesday, Dec. 22, in the final game before the Christmas break.
