The San Jose Sharks dropped a 3-2 decision to the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Saturday night.
The Sharks were without Tomas Hertl, who flew back to the Bay Area Friday for further testing on a lower-body injury that appeared to occur in a collision with St. Louis Blues forward Jori Lehtera in the second period of the Sharks’ 3-2 loss on Thursday.
Forward Tobias Rieder made his return to Arizona after missing Thursday’s 3-2 overtime loss against the Vancouver Canucks with a lower-body injury. In addition, the Coyotes have recalled forward Christian Dvorak from the Tucson Roadrunners of the American Hockey League to replace Brad Richardson, who had surgery to repair the broken tibia and fibula in his right leg on Friday in Vancouver.
The Sharks were off to a good start with three shots, however, the Coyotes gained some early momentum. On a 2-on-1 with Jordan Martinook, Rieder received a pass at the attacking line and tap in the puck into a wide-open net for his fifth goal of the year. Arizona took a 1-0 lead just 1:55 into the first period.
There was good energy on the ice that led to a lot of action. Shortly after the Coyotes’ first goal, Michael Haley and Ryan White dropped the gloves. Double minors were assessed at 1:57.
Coyotes were called for too many men on the ice with 2:21 left in the first. Then, Joonas Donskoi went to the box for interference.
The Sharks held a 17-4 shot advantage, but they didn’t take many offensive risks and went the first frame without scoring a goal. The Coyotes had a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The second period began with the remaining 49 seconds of the Coyotes’ power play. The Sharks successfully killed off the penalty.
Brenden Dillon went to the box for slashing at 7:28 of the second period. As a result, the Coyotes received their fourth power play of the night and doubled their lead at 7:53 when Max Domi beat Sharks goalie Martin Jones on the short side with a wrist shot just inside the post.
Despite leading 27-16 in shots, the Sharks trailed the Coyotes 2-0 after two periods. Arizona improved with 12 shots throughout the middle frame.
Just 41 seconds into the third period, Joe Pavelski tipped in Justin Braun’s wrist shot past Coyotes goalie Mike Smith to cut the lead in half.
Matt Nieto tied the game 2-2 midway through the third. After taking a pass from David Schlemko, he blasted a slap shot just above the circles for his first goal of the year.
The Sharks and Coyotes took a 2-2 tie into overtime.
Martin Hanzal scored the game-winning goal at 1:16 of overtime to lift the Coyotes to a 3-2 win over the Sharks.
Smith finished with 43 saves for Arizona. Jones made 23 saves in a losing effort for San Jose.
Up Next
The Sharks return home to play Monday against the New Jersey Devils. Game is scheduled for 7:30 pm PST on CSCA, MSG+
