SAN JOSE — Brent Burns scored 3:14 into overtime to give the San Jose Sharks a 3-2 victory against the Arizona Coyotes at SAP Center on Saturday.
Burns, who also had an assist, took a pass from Tomas Hertl, drove toward the net and beat Darcy Kuemper with a short wrist shot.
“That’s a big-time play,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “He’s a beast at 6-4, 235 (pounds). To be that skilled and to be able to make those type of plays — he’s a world-class player, and that was a world-class play.”
[WATCH: All Coyotes vs. Sharks highlights]
Burns’ overtime goal was the 13th of his career, tying Scott Niedermayer for the most overtime goals by a defenseman in NHL history.
Video: EA Sports Overtime Winner: Burns wins it for Sharks
Kevin Labanc and Joe Pavelski scored, and Martin Jones made 31 saves for the Sharks (30-16-7), who have won back-to-back games after three consecutive losses.
Conor Garland and Josh Archibald scored, and Kuemper made 32 saves for Arizona (23-23-5), which is 3-1-2 in its past six games.
It was the first game for each team following the 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend and the League-mandated five-day break.
“If guys were feeling a little rusty they were making up for it with work ethic,” Kuemper said. “One point is better than zero. It would have been nice to get the win; it didn’t happen tonight, but the effort was there.”
Video: ARI@SJS: Labanc buries loose puck past Kuemper
Forward Logan Couture said DeBoer had a simple message after the break and before the Sharks began their 30-game home stretch.
“It’s, let’s go. This is the most fun time to play hockey. We’ve all been on teams that have gone on long runs,” Couture said. “The most fun I’ve ever had playing hockey was when we went to the [2016 Stanley Cup] Final. Why not do that again? We have the team in here that’s capable of it.”
The Sharks pulled within four points of the first-place Calgary Flames in the Pacific Division.
Arizona (51 points) trails the Vancouver Canucks by three points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
The Coyotes tied it 2-2 at 7:10 of the third period on Archibald’s fifth goal of the season, a wide-open wrist shot from the slot.
“It was a big point for us,” Archibald said. “Obviously we wanted two, but it was nice to get back into the swing of things after the break. My goal got the team back into it, but it was an unfortunate ending.”
The Coyotes were scoreless on five power plays.
“That was obviously a huge part of the win tonight,” Sharks defenseman Justin Braun said of the penalty kill. “I thought guys were working really hard going to where they need to be.”
Garland gave Arizona a 1-0 lead at 9:56 of the second period with his 10th goal of the season. The rookie intercepted a pass from defenseman Tim Heed in the slot, skated right to left across the crease and scored on a sharp-angled wrist shot.
Labanc tied it 1-1 at 12:09 when he knocked in a rebound from close range. Pavelski put San Jose ahead 2-1 at 12:53 with his 28th goal of the season. Kuemper stopped Timo Meier‘s shot on a breakaway but couldn’t control the rebound, and Pavelski scored on a backhand.
“As the game went on I thought we got better,” Pavelski said.
Arizona’s Richard Panik appeared to tie it 2-2 at 13:13 when he jammed the puck inside the left post and over the goal line. It was initially ruled no goal, then changed to a goal after a review initiated by game officials determined that the goal had not been moved from its moorings. Sharks coach Peter DeBoer then challenged, contending that Panik had interfered with Jones, and the goal was overturned after a video review.
Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson missed his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury, but defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic returned after missing 10 games with a wrist injury.
Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson returned after missing one game with a knee injury.
Video: ARI@SJS: Pavelski follows up play and scores
They said it
“I thought we had some chances at the end to win the game. That’s a hard team to defend. Archibald’s goal was a big goal because it got us back in the game, and then we had several chances at the end.” — Arizona coach Rick Tocchet
“We want to really start playing some real good hockey here down the last 30 games. We think large pieces of our game are in a good place, but there are some areas we want to clean up a little bit. The whole key to playoff hockey is making sure you’re playing well from this time of year on .” — Sharks coach Peter DeBoer
Need to know
Clayton Keller had a team-high seven shots for the Coyotes. Kuemper is 6-0-3 in his past nine starts. … Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon played his 500th NHL game. Forward Joe Thornton‘s assist on Labanc’s goal was his 999th point with the Sharks.
What’s next
Coyotes: At the Dallas Stars on Monday (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)
Sharks: At the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)
from A Viral Update http://bit.ly/2S6lUFS
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