Burns’ OT goal caps comeback
Brent Burns scored his second goal of the season 22 seconds into overtime as the Sharks beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 Thursday night at SAP Center.
Joe Thornton picked up an assist to move into sole possession of 19th place on the all-time scoring list with 1,410 points.
San Jose tied the game in the third period with its third and fourth goals on special teams.
Logan Couture scored his 14th of the season with a powerplay strike at 8:31 of the third after defenseman Dylan DeMelo drew an interference penalty.
Then Barclay Goodrow scored his second of the season with a shorthanded goal — San Jose’s second of the game — on a breakaway at 11:56.
After falling behind 3-0 in the first period, the Sharks rallied in the second period, finding the back of the net on two special teams’ plays. But they also surrendered an ugly goal to face a 4-2 deficit after 40 minutes.
Appearing in his first game after missing two with a laceration, Sharks center Melker Karlsson scored his fourth goal of the season at 10:21 of the second by completing a 2-on-1 shorthanded break. Chris Tierney got a pass through Carolina defenseman Noah Hanifan just when it appeared the San Jose forward waited too long to either shoot or dish.
The Hurricanes went back up by three when San Jose’s defense pair of Burns and Paul Martin found themselves on the weak side, allowing Justin Williams to move in from the left circle to assist Jeff Skinner on his goal from in front at 14:44.
San Jose converted its second power-play opportunity when Thornton scored his fifth of the season at 17:51 with a wrist shot from the left circle. Teammate Tomas Hertl provided a screen in front of Carolina goalie Cam Ward.
It was a bizarre first period indeed for the Sharks. San Jose won 69 percent of the face-offs against the NHL’s best team on draws and allowed only six shots on goal.
The Sharks’ shutdown defense duo of Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Justin Braun were caught on the ice for the first two goals-against, and one of the five draws Carolina won turned into the third goal in a span of just four shots faced by goalie Martin Jones.
Braun lost a fight for the puck behind the net, and watched as Sebastian Aho drifted in front to fill an empty net at 9:01 as Jones skated out from his crease to challenge a possible point shot that turned into a pass.
Victor Rask scored his fifth of the season at 11:37 to cap a face-off win by the Hurricanes in the Sharks’ zone. And Aho scored his second of the period and seventh of the season by picking the top corner over Jones’ left glove at 14:14. Briefly: Martin returned after missing 24 games with a lowerbody injury. He last appeared in the Sharks’ second game of the season, Oct. 7. … Forward Joonas Donskoi went on injured reserve with sore ribs. … Defenseman Brenden Dillon served a one-game suspension.