Sharks: San Jose falls 6-5 to Bruins in overtime
A missed call spoiled a night to remember for Joe Thornton.
Defenseman Charlie McAvoy scored 3:59 into overtime after the Bruins tied the game late on a controversial goal as Boston beat the Sharks 6-5 on a night Thornton collected his first hat trick in nearly nine years.
McAvoy scored his fourth goal from the slot on an oddman break to give the Bruins their sixth straight win. San Jose sits a point behind Calgary for first in the Pacific Division.
“We’re definitely disappointed we didn’t get the win,” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. “We had our chances.”
Thornton scored his 13th goal of the season to break a 4-4 tie at 13:32 of the third period. That invited a cascade of hats to hit the ice from the sellout crowd at SAP Center.
Thornton’s shot came from the high slot against the team that drafted him No. 1 in 1997 and traded him to the Sharks on Nov. 30, 2005. Thornton’s last three-goal game came Oct. 27, 2010, against New Jersey and goalie Martin Brodeur.
“Yeah, I can believe it,” Thornton joked when asked if he could believe it had been that long. “I don’t shoot too often, but it was a good feeling.”
Boston’s Chris Wagner tied it with his eighth goal at 18:11, a goal that stood despite Wagner appearing to knock the puck over the goal line after using a high stick to knock it down. The Sharks argued long and hard to no avail.
“It was above his shoulders,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said. “The officiating in the whole third period … I’m sure we’ll get an explanation or some type of apology. It doesn’t help us in the standings, but that’s usually how it works.”
“It was a tough one for all of them to miss,” Sharks forward Logan Couture added. “The refs are going to watch it and probably feel bad about this one.”
Evander Kane was denied a chance to win in sudden death, too, when his breakaway was blown dead once officials realized the Boston goal was off its moorings.
The Sharks overcame 3-0 and 4-2 deficits to tie the game in dramatic fashion 24 seconds before the second intermission.
Couture converted a penalty shot while San Jose was killing a penalty by filling Boston goalie Tuukka Rask’s five-hole with his 22nd goal of the season and second in two games for a 4-4 tie.
Trailing by two, Thornton scored his second of the game with a close-in put back after Marcus Sorensen deflected Radim Simek’s point shot at 16:03.
Those two late-period goals followed what appeared to be a back-breaking Boston powerplay strike at 6:30. San Jose did a terrific job denying the Bruins entry on the power play until Danton Heinen sprang a breaking Jake DeBrusk, who beat Sharks goalie Martin Jones for his 18th goal and a 4-2 lead.
Boston was all over the Sharks at the outset, scoring three times in less than five minutes late in the opening period.
Torey Krug scored his sixth at 13:49, defenseman Zdeno Chara picked up his fourth off a faceoff win at 16:26 and Karson Kuhlman scored his first at 18:24 by capping a 2-on-1.
San Jose got an important goal late when Thornton was again in the right place at the right time to knock in a loose puck at 19:57 after Pavelski attempted a wraparound.