By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Friday, December 27, 2013

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Victories away from the Shark Tank have been tough to come by of late for San Jose. In their last seven games on the road prior to Saturday, the Sharks were 2-5-0.

Thanks to shootout goals by Logan Couture and Patrick Marleau, the Sharks left the Valley of the Sun with two badly needed road points with a 4-3 overtime win over Phoenix.

With the win, San Jose has 54 points and pulled into a tie for second place with Los Angeles in the NHL Pacific Division. The Coyotes, at 46 points, are in fifth place in the Pacific, second in the Western Conference Wild-Card standings.

“To me, it’s a coin flip as to whether or not it helps us to go to a shootout,” Couture, who scored the tying goal in the shootout, said. “But in that situation, we have a lot of confidence in Antti (Niemi, Sharks goaltender) and it was great the way he shut the door. And we have a lot of guys on this team who have had a lot of success in shootouts. So yes, we were confident.”

The shootout followed a scoreless 5-minute overtime period with the score tied 3-3. Phoenix’s Mikkel Boedker scored the first goal of the shootout, but it was also the last for the Coyotes. Couture answered Boedker’s goal, and, after Radim Vrbata was turned away by Niemi, Marleau scored. Niemi then shut down Oliver Ekman-Larsson to seal the win.

It’s a situation Sharks coach Todd McLellan would rather not make a habit of.

“In a shootout, you’re looking at trends, a little luck, getting a good bounce,” McLellan said. “It was great that we had a couple of guys score tonight, but hopefully we won’t have to depend on shootouts to win games.

“To me, the game is over when that final buzzer sounds in overtime,” he added. “It’s nice to get that extra point, but we’d prefer to do it earlier.”

Marleau, who scored in regulation and the shootout, added, “Getting two points after the break is nice. It took us a while to find our legs and we did that a couple of shifts in.”

On having to go to a shootout, Marleau said, “Obviously, we’d rather close a team out in regulation. But winning in a shootout is nice. We haven’t won many of those, so this was good for our confidence. But then I hope we’re not in too many shootouts, either.”

Due to a clause in the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL players and owners, there are no games or team flights scheduled for three days over the Christmas holiday. So, the Sharks flew in to Phoenix early Friday morning.

“(The Coyotes) had a little more jump and much better execution than we did early in the game,” McLellan said. “But I was pleased with the way our guys stuck with it and fought through it.”

The sellout crowd of 17,125 had reason to get excited when the Coyotes came out aggressively in the early going, and the tact paid off at 7:43 of the first period. When the Sharks made a lackadaisical effort to clear the puck from their own zone, David Moss intercepted the pass in the slot, spun and flipped a blind shot past the outstretched glove of Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi, giving the Coyotes a 1-0 lead.

Midway through the second period, San Jose got the equalizer. Joe Pavelski took a feed from Joe Thornton and fired a shot from the left circle, beating Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith low and through traffic at 9:56.

Nearly one minute later, at 11:04 of the second period, the Coyotes regained the lead at 2-1 when Moss tallied his second goal of the game. Moss, parked outside the crease, redirected a shot from the point by David Schlemko and it fluttered past Niemi’s stick.

With Phoenix’s Derek Morris serving a minor for interference, Marleau scored his 17th goal of the season at 13:13 of the second period, tying the game at 2-2, Marleau took a pass from Tommy Wingels and fired a low wrist shot between Smith’s legs, splitting two defenders.

“That was a great play by Tommy,” Marleau said. “I was just trying to get a quick shot through the 5-hole.”

San Jose took its first lead of the night at 3-2 when Burns, cruising in from the left circle, converted a pass from Pavelski, who circled behind the net. Burns flipped a shot that beat Smith over his right shoulder for his 11th goal of the season at 10:10 of the third period.

Thornton’s assist on the Burns goal was his second of the game, giving him 37 on the season.

Moments later, Phoenix tied the game again at 3-3 with a power play goal by Radim Vrbata at 13:35. Vrbata, on a direct feed from Keith Yandle, fired a one-timer from the left circle for the equalizer.

In the goaltending battle, Niemi stopped 34 of 37 shots, while Smith turned away 29 of 32.

“The last time we got two points on San Jose, we probably didn’t deserve those two points,” Phoenix Coach Dave Tippett said. “Tonight, I thought that game was a toss-up. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the extra point, but we put the work in to get the two points.”

After a long winter day in Phoenix, the Sharks prepare for back-to-back games against first-place Anaheim. The first game against the Ducks is Sunday night in San Jose, with the rematch set for New Year’s Eve in Anaheim.

SHARK BITES: Coyotes RW Shane Doan is still recovering from a bout with Rocky Mountain Fever. His status continues at day-to-day. . … Patrick Marleau’s second-period goal was his 28th against Phoenix in 91 career games against the Coyotes. … The game marked the 10th anniversary of the opening of Jobing.com Arena. On Dec. 27, 2003, the Coyotes opened their new home with a 3-1 loss to Nashville. … This was the third of four meetings this season between the Sharks and Coyotes; San Jose visits the desert again on April 12, 2014.

(TAGS: San Jose Sharks,NHL,Phoenix Coyotes,Patrick Marleau)