Sharks hold off Coyotes’ comeback attempt
GLENDALE — Lukas Radil’s first NHL goal broke a tie with 5:47 to play and the San Jose Sharks beat the Arizona Coyotes 5-3 Saturday night.
Radil, playing in just his sixth game of the season, scored on a backhand wrapround shot as the Sharks blew a 3-0 lead but got their third win in four games.
Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, Evander Kane and Tomas Hertl also scored for San Jose. Aaron Dell, playing for the first time since Nov. 28, stopped 17 shots.
Brad Richardson had a goal and assist, and Nick Schmaltz and Richard Panik also scored for Arizona. Adin Hill made 28 saves. After a four-game win streak, the Coyotes have lost their last two.
Panik’s sixth goal of the season tied it at 3 at 5:45 of the third as his shot wobbled through Dell’s pads.
The Coyotes pulled Hill with about a minute to play, but Tomas Hertl scored an empty-net goal with 51 seconds to play.
The Sharks upped their league-leading first-period goal total to 39 with two less than a minute apart. Pavelski re-directed Brenden Dillon’s long-distance shot with his skate with 5:24 left in the opening period. It was Pavelski’s team-high 19th of the season.
Fifty seconds later, Hertl passed to Couture on a breakout, and Couture pump-faked before burying a backhand under Hill’s legs for his 10th to make it 2-0.
Kane won a race against Arizona’s Jordan Oesterle for a loose puck and took it in on his own for the Sharks’ third goal, at 5:10 of the second period.