Prior to Tuesday’s night Sharks game against the Phoenix
Coyotes, Patrick Marleau was honored for having played in his
1,000th NHL game recently. By the end of the game, Alex Stalock,
playing in his first NHL game, joined Marleau and several other
Sharks accepting plaudits for a 5-3 comeback victory over the
Coyotes at sold-out HP Pavilion.
SAN JOSE
Prior to Tuesday’s night Sharks game against the Phoenix Coyotes, Patrick Marleau was honored for having played in his 1,000th NHL game recently.
By the end of the game, Alex Stalock, playing in his first NHL game, joined Marleau and several other Sharks accepting plaudits for a 5-3 comeback victory over the Coyotes at soldout HP Pavilion.
Marleau’s short-handed goal with 6:05 left in the third period completed the Sharks’ recovery from a 3-0 deficit fashioned in the second period. Stalock, a 23-year-old goaltender pulled off the American Hockey League affiliate roster that morning, made nine saves to earn the victory in relief of Antti Niemi.
“Let’s not kid ourselves,” San Jose coach Todd McLellan said. “We’re real fortunate that we won.”
The first 30 minutes of the game “showed a lack of drive, a lack of passion,” McLellan said. “We better find a way to bring it starting tomorrow.”
The Sharks begin a seven-game, two-week road trip Wednesday night in Anaheim against the Ducks. San Jose returns to HP Pavilion on Thursday, Feb. 17, against the Washington Capitals. The Sharks share seventh place with 58 points, two points behind Anaheim.
The San Jose-Phoenix game was one of six scheduled games involving two Western Conference teams Tuesday night. One of those contests, Colorado at St. Louis, was postponed because of the strong Midwest storm.
Logan Couture, the rookie pacing the Sharks in goals, was a late scratch because of the flu.
After scoring a power-play goal in each of its last five games, Phoenix immediately extended that streak by notching a power play on its first opportunity to take a 1-0 lead.
The Sharks were near the end of their own power play when Dany Heatley was called for cross-checking. The Coyotes converted at 16:11 of the first period when Shane Doan’s low shot from the left point was redirected home by linemate Radim Vrbata.
Keith Yandle, one of two Phoenix representatives in last weekend’s All-Star Game, extended the league’s longest active point streak to 10 games with a goal with 1:05 left in the first period. Defensive partner Derek Morris was able to secure the puck in the neutral zone before passing to an open Yandle at the San Jose blueline. The league’s top defensive scorer rocketed a shot from the top of the left circle into the top right corner of the net past Niemi.
Paul Bissonnette’s first goal of the season, fourth in 84 NHL games, meant the end of Niemi’s night between the pipes 10:13 into the second period.
Bissonnette, set up in the low slot, one-timed a pass from rookie Oliver Ekman-Larsson past two Shark defenders and Niemi for the 3-0 cushion.
Stalock made three saves in the final 9:47 of the second period. After 9:39 of that span, San Jose broke through Phoenix goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov on Joe Pavelski’s power-play goal with 7.2 seconds left in the period. Pavelski keyed the play by stealing the puck in the right circle of the Phoenix zone, whipping the puck across the ice and off the sideboards. Heatley’s shot from a tough angle clipped off the left post, in front of the crease and set up for Pavelski’s stuff shot for his 10th goal of the season.
Pavelski added a goal at 1:24 of the third period when he tapped in a rebound of a shot by Devin Setoguchi. Newcomers Ben Eager and Kyle Wellwood combined for the tying goal at 5:32.
“We got outplayed bad enough that we had a little bit of a reality check,” Wellwood said of San Jose’s rally. “It’s rare to get a come-from-behind win after two periods in this league.”
Marleau netted his 19th goal of the year to make it a 4-3 contest when he controlled a loose puck created by Pavelski and sped up the ice past two defenders to drive a point-blank shot over Bryzgalov’s right shoulder.
Joe Thornton added an empty-net goal with 10.2 seconds to play to cap San Jose’s four goals in the third period. Phoenix, owner of a five-game road winning streak, had been 20-1-2 when leading after two periods.
“It’s pretty special,” Stalock said of the surprise appearance for his first NHL playing time. “It’s something I’ll remember forever.”
