SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - All it took was an overtime power play for the San Jose Sharks to change a frustrating pattern this season against the Arizona Coyotes.
Brent Burns scored a power-play goal 19 seconds into overtime and the Sharks avenged a pair of one-goal losses to the Coyotes earlier this month with a 2-1 victory on Tuesday night.
After losing twice in Arizona despite a decided advantage in shots, San Jose came out on top this time.
“I thought we deserved the win,” coach Peter DeBoer said. “We worked hard enough for the win. We stuck with it. I liked our composure tonight. It would have been easy at different points to get frustrated or get impatient. That’s what they wait for. But we didn’t. It took us more than 60 minutes but we found a way.”
Chris Tierney also scored and Martin Jones made 18 saves. San Jose won four of five games on the homestand and improved to 8-3 overall at the Shark Tank this season.
Max Domi scored the lone goal for the Coyotes, who lost their fifth straight in San Jose. Mike Smith made 40 saves but had no chance on Burns’ one-timer in overtime.
Martin Hanzal was called for high-sticking Melker Karlsson with 0.3 seconds left in regulation and the Sharks did not take long to capitalize in the extra period.
San Jose set up quickly in the offensive zone after Logan Couture carried the puck in. Joe Pavelski then fed Burns at the top of the faceoff circle for the big shot that beat Smith for his ninth goal of the season.
“Cooch made a great play on the entry, had good poise with the puck, brought that guy in and reversed it back, set it up and Pav just made a great play coming around the top,” Burns said.
Coyotes coach Dave Tippett was upset about the penalty.
“That power play shouldn’t have been at the end,” he said. “It was a hand pass that wasn’t called and they give Hanzal a penalty. That’s the way the breaks go sometimes.”
The Coyotes jumped on top midway through the second when Domi took a cross-ice pass from Radim Vrbata and beat Jones with a shot to the short side for his fourth goal of the season.
Alex Goligoski then hit a goalpost on the following shift for Arizona and the Coyotes couldn’t get anything else past Jones.
“Smitty played great but we have to find a way to get our offense going outside of our zone a lot faster,” Domi said. “That would make easier to get some chances.”
San Jose found its stride again and tied the game late in the period when Tierney skated out from the corner and jammed a puck past Smith from in close.
“That’s what we were kind of preaching a little bit, that it was going to be a dirty goal,” Tierney said. “He was kind of seeing everything and he was on his game like he has been the last couple times we played them.”
Both teams came close in a scoreless first period. Patrick Marleau appeared to strike first for San Jose with a wicked backhander only to have the goal waved off for offside after a replay review.
A few minutes later, Hanzal tipped a shot from Vrbata on the power and the puck deflected off both posts and rolled along the goal line before being cleared by Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
NOTES: Coyotes D Oliver Ekman-Larsson left the game after the second period with an upper-body injury. … Mikkel Boedker got his first assist of the season on Tierney’s goal, ending a 12-game points drought. … Karlsson returned to the Sharks’ lineup for the first time since Nov. 12 after being sidelined by a lower-body injury.
UP NEXT
Coyotes: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.
Sharks: Visit Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.