The San Jose Sharks dropped a 3-2 decision to the Arizona Coyotes in a shootout at SAP Center on Saturday night.
After a quick stop in Vancouver, the Sharks returned to San Jose to host the Coyotes in a Pacific Division matchup.
The Sharks outshot the Coyotes 13-10 after a scoreless 20 minutes.
The Coyotes broke a scoreless deadlock in the second period as Shane Doan scored his fifth goal of the season on the power play. Tomas Hertl was called for interference on Brendan Perlini at 8:54. Doan then skated into the slot, handled a pass from Jamie McGinn and snapped a quick wrist shot to beat Martin Jones five-hole at 7:37.
Brenden Dillon’s initial shot was denied by Mike Smith, but he came through, fighting for the rebound and poking it into the net for with his first goal of the season, tying the score 1-1 with 2:45 left in the period.
The score was tied 1-1 after 40 minutes and shots were 21-20 in favor of the Sharks.
The Sharks grabbed a 2-1 lead at 17:42 of the third period as Logan Couture handled a drop pass in the slot and fired a wrist shot over Smith’s pads.
The Coyotes quickly responded, tying the score 2-2 just 26 seconds later. Ryan White snapped a shot from the top of the circle that bounced off the stick of Dillon and past Jones. White’s unassisted goal was his fifth of the season.
Despite the Sharks outshooting the Coyotes 35-26, neither team found the game-winning goal after a full 60 minutes, forcing overtime for the third time in this series. The Coyotes edged the Sharks 3-2 on Nov. 10 and San Jose beat Arizona 2-1 on Nov. 29.
Excellent saves by both goaltenders kept their respective teams in the game. Smith made five saves in overtime. Jones made an acrobatic diving save to block a wrist shot from Tobias Rieder with 36 seconds left in overtime.
The end result was determined by a shootout following a 2-2 deadlock in overtime. In the first round, Perlini scored while Patrick Marleau missed. In the second round, both Couture and Radim Vrbata scored. In the third round, Joe Pavelski had a chance to win the game for the Sharks, but his wrist shot was saved by Smith.
The Sharks (33-17-2) lost to the Coyotes (16-28-6) at home. Jones made 26 saves in a losing effort.
Smith finished with 38 saves in the victory.
Notes
Scratched: Tim Heed, Ryan Carpenter
Injured: Joonas Donskoi (upper body), Dylan DeMelo (broken wrist)
Up Next
The Sharks embark on a four-game road trip starting with the Sabres (21-20-10) in Buffalo Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. EST on CSCA and MSGB.
