Seems silly to shout from the rook tops but the San Jose Sharks had lost seven straight ans seemed eager to make it eight before Brent Burns scored a power play goal just 22 seconds into extra time to snap the skid.
Brent Burns scored OT winner for Sharks – file photo by Jack Lima
The win, 4-3 over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights, also made certain the Sharks will have home ice in the first round of the playoffs.
“We needed a win to solidify home ice,” coach Peter DeBoer said. “We needed a win mentally because we haven’t found a way lately, although I think our play hasn’t been as bad as our record. But there’s no corners turned or any dramatic changes. We’ve played good hockey all year, and I think that’s going to continue.”
Meanwhile, Vegas was riding a four game losing skid and had that extended with this loss; they dropped to 42-30-7.
“We’re going into the playoffs, it’s time for us to step it up,” William Karlsson said. “We’re losing too much. Things haven’t been going our way, but that’s in the past. We have to look forward.”
Martin Jones made 23 saves to get the win.
“It was exactly like a playoff game,” Tomas Hertl said. “Everybody on the bench was fired up. … We helped each other and finished hard. … We showed them we’re not scared of them and we can play really hard against them.”
Karlsson, Shea Theodore and Cody Eakin scored for the Knights.
“That’s what happens when you play a team, well, there’s a good chance we’ll see them in the first round,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. “There was a little chirping from both sides. It was a good game though. We’re disciplined, we’ll finish hard, and we’ll play hard. Those were two good teams playing hard. Neither team crossed the line.”
Tomas Hertl, Evander Kane and Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored in regulation for the Sharks.
“I think we had some fight-back tonight, which I don’t feel we’ve had in the past against these guys,” Kane said. “I thought that was really important to realize as a group that we know we can challenge them physically.
“I thought that was a good step in the right direction tonight to prove that to ourselves. Then once we can push back in that element of the game, our skill takes over and our game starts to feed off that.”
[WATCH: All Golden Knights vs. Sharks highlights]
Malcolm Subban started for Vegas and made 30 saves in the loss; he remains the go-to goalie with Marc-Andre Fleury down with an injury.
“Both teams wanted to win. There’s pride in the rivalry, and that’s the way it’s going to be,” Eakin said. “I thought we played a pretty good game. There was a lot of stuff going on we could have straightened out. [Losing] 4-3 is tough at the end, in overtime. It could have gone either way. They’re going to be playing hard, and I’m sure they enjoyed it as much as we did.”
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