Associated Press
Sharks Win In Comeback
Brent Burns scored a power-play goal 4:22 into overtime after Thornton assisted on San Jose's tying tally, and the Sharks rallied past the St. Louis Blues 3-2 Saturday night for their season-best fifth straight victory.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored with 21 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game for the Sharks. Thornton dug the puck out of the corner before delivering the pass.
"It was a good all-around game with two good teams going at it," Thornton said. "We waited for the last minute to score in regulation and we waited until the last minute to score in overtime. I just figured somebody was going to be there."
Vlasic was the recipient of the pass and converted his fourth of the season.
"Smart man," Vlasic said of Thornton. "There's a lot of ice available and with Jumbo making that pass, he's not going to miss. It took a lot against a good defensive team. We found a way to get a late goal, but we had a lot of opportunities before that. It's nice to get the win the way we did."
Steve Ott scored his first goal in 10 months late in the second period to put the Blues ahead.
"The most disappointing part of it is team-wise we played extremely well and we didn't get the job done," Ott said. "Collectively we made some mistakes and unfortunately those mistakes happened late in the game and in overtime."
Patrick Berglund also scored for the Blues, who endured their second straight disappointing defeat. St. Louis lost 6-4 to the Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings on Thursday after holding a 3-0 lead.
"We're an upper-echelon team and we have to show we can close out games," Ott said. "San Jose, Los Angeles, those are the cream of the crop and those are the teams we want to beat."
Andrew Desjardins had a goal for the Sharks, and Antti Niemi made 18 saves.
Jake Allen stopped 27 shots for the Blues.
Ott scored his first goal with the Blues in his 55th game. He had played 59 games since scoring against the Edmonton Oilers as a member of the Buffalo Sabres on Feb. 3.
Desjardins scored midway through the second period after taking a pass from Justin Braun off the boards on Allen's stick side and getting the puck to bounce off the goalie's body from an extreme angle.
"I would have liked to have the first one back," Allen said. "That was an unacceptable goal."
Berglund backhanded a rebound off Niemi's pads to tie it with 5:31 remaining in the second. Alex Pietrangelo ripped a shot from the blue line to set up Berglund.
Maxim Lapierre led Ott with a nice pass and he finished the 1-on-1 against Niemi.
Burns acknowledged he shot the game-winner as hard as he could.
"He has a shot, doesn't he?" Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "He put himself in a good position, created a shooting lane. The pass was in his wheelhouse; he just pounded away at it. It's hard to stop a shot that fast and quick."
Game notes
Blues C David Backes became the 10th player in franchise history to appear in 600 career games. ... Sharks D Mirco Mueller will play for Switzerland in the World Junior Championships that begin next week in Canada. ... Thornton moved into a 22nd-place tie with Phil Esposito on the career assists list with 873. ... The Sharks announced their first sellout in 11 games. San Jose had a 205-game sellout streak that ended earlier in the year.
Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press
Photo Wire
St. Louis Blues goalie Jake Allen, right, blocks a puck hit by San Jose Sharks' Tommy Wingels, center, during the...
(AP Photo/George Nikitin)
(AP Photo/George Nikitin)
Scoring Summary
| 1st Period | STL | SJ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No scoring this period | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2nd Period | STL | SJ | ||
| 10:47 | Andrew Desjardins (2)
Assists: Justin Braun, Tye McGinn |
0 | 1 | |
| 14:29 | Patrik Berglund (4)
Assists: Alex Pietrangelo, Dmitrij Jaskin |
1 | 1 | |
| 17:21 | Steve Ott (1)
Assists: Maxim Lapierre, Ian Cole |
2 | 1 | |
| 3rd Period | STL | SJ | ||
| 19:39 | Marc-Edouard Vlasic (4)
Assists: Joe Thornton, Melker Karlsson |
2 | 2 | |
| OT | STL | SJ | ||
| 4:22 | Brent Burns (10)
(Power Play) Assists: Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture |
2 | 3 | |
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