Scoring first four goals still not enough for San Jose
SAN JOSE — Seth Jones scored his second goal of the game 18 seconds into overtime and the Chicago Blackhawks overcame a fourgoal deficit to beat the San Jose Sharks 5-4 on Saturday night.
“We all banded together,” Jones said. “There have been a lot of times this year we’ve kind of separated and tried to do it ourselves a lot of the time. I think tonight we really hunkered down and we did it together. So that was awesome to see.”
It was the Blackhawks’ first win when trailing by at least four goals since Oct. 12, 2009, when they overcame a 5-0 deficit to beat the Calgary Flames 6-5 in overtime. The Sharks had never blown a lead of four or more goals in their franchise history, going 223-0 in the regular season and playoffs.
Philipp Kurashev scored the tying goal with 47 seconds left in regulation. Tyler Johnson and Ryan Donato also scored for Chicago, which won its fourth straight game against San Jose.
Donato and Taylor Raddysh each had two assists, while rookie Connor Bedard had one for his teamleading 55th point.
“It took everybody, from the goaltender out,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. “I thought they did it together. I thought the guys were encouraging each other. I heard them after the second period to really go out there and get this tonight, and they really wanted it. I think, internally,
that’s good leadership in the room to pull things together.”
Fabian Zetterlund and Thomas Bordeleau each had two goals for the Sharks, who have lost seven in a row and 16 of their last 17.
“Give them credit, they were opportunistic for sure,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “Overall, I liked our game. But like I said, they were opportunistic and we got a little bit away from what we were doing early in the game to build the lead that we did.”
Bordeleau scored both of his goals in the first period as San Jose built a 2-0 lead after one.
“We just weren’t able to get the job done,” Bordeleau said. “We weren’t able to close it out. The effort was there. It’s just the execution, really.”
Zetterlund scored the next two early in the second to reach 20 goals for the season.
Donato and Johnson answered for the Blackhawks to cut the lead to 4-2.
Jones scored a powerplay goal 6:20 into the third period to bring Chicago within a goal before Kurashev tied it.
“In a 4-0 game, you just need to get one and you start to feel better about yourself,” Donato said. “You get two and then you know you’re back in the game. So I think for us, it was a tough start, but I like the way we finished it after.”
Petr Mrazek made 26 saves to earn the win.
Sharks goalie Devin Cooley, who is from the San Jose area, made 26 saves in his home debut.
“It sucks,” he said. “So close. I don’t know what’s going on in the third. In the third, the team was dialed in, I thought they played amazing. I just couldn’t make the saves when I needed to.”
San Jose’s 40 points are the fewest in the NHL, with Chicago the second fewest at 45.