Photo credit: CHRISTINE COTTER — AP Photo

By Pearl Allison Lo

ANAHEIM– San Jose’s 1-0 lead from the first period broke at the very end, as the Anaheim Ducks scored the tying goal with less than a minute in the third to eventually win 2-1 Saturday.

Both teams had at least one power play in each period, including overtime, but the last power play in the game marked the only power play goal. The Sharks’ Antti Niemi had just avoided a shot earlier, but then Corey Perry took aim, with three San Jose players between him and Niemi, as the puck hit the crossbar at 3:37. That was Perry’s seventh shot of the night.

The preseason finale certainly had its share of fighting, especially in the second. The Sharks’ Joe Pavelski responded, “well i think it’s last preseason game, so, whatever you got to do to get ready for regular season. I  think you’re going to try to at least set a certain standard tonight, you see the lineups are close, as soon as you get a lot of good players, you start competing, a power play here, a power play there, you want to score a goal…it’s just built up.”

In the first, the Ducks’ Matt Beleskey hit Adam Burish near the net against the boards and then Burish fell backwards. The Sharks’ Mike Brown came in with a hit of his own in retaliation and Anaheim got their first power play. Matt Nieto had a solo opportunity shorthanded but his shot hit one of the Ducks’ stick.

The Ducks seemed to dominate, but San Jose was the one to get the all-important goal. At 13:58, Tomas Hertl got his first of the preseason. It started with the faceoff. The puck then got to the net from a shot from the blue line, bounced off the end boards and to an open Hertl. Hertl was helped by Pavelski and Scott Hannan.

There were five power plays during the period, with two overlapping. The last one came with 12.4 seconds left.

In the second, the Sharks had  more penalties than shots as there were five penalties per team.

Two penalties overlapped again as with just under a minute left in Anaheim Tim Jackman’s penalty, San Jose’s Jason Demers was called for interference.

Beleskey hit Braun then Hannan and Mike Brown went 2-on-1 on Jackman. Hannan was called for roughing and Brown and Jackman got unsportsmanlike conduct at 8:42.

Less than two minutes later, Demers hit Beleskey, Beleskey later responding by slashing, resulting in Demers going down, Demers called for embellishment, and then Beleskey also called for roughing as Beleskey hit Demers when he came back up from the ice.

At 13:04, Brown and Bryan Allen both got 10-minute misconducts.

Perry got called for cross-checking at 16:43.

The number of game shots ramped up in the third, with San Jose getting 11 and the Ducks 14.

After extended jostling along the boards where no one could get the puck out of the boards, Francois Beauchemin had a point blank shot which Niemi nabbed.

Patrick Maroon also had a one-on-one opportunity which Niemi gloved as well. Niemi commented, “they were coming hard, the last four five minutes.”

Anaheim took advantage of three failed clearances by the Sharks before the tying goal. Ryan Kesler was aided by Perry and Sami Vatanen.

Game notes: San Jose’s Brent Burns led all with 24:52 ice time, teammates Tommy Wingels and Logan Couture had four shots apiece, Kesler led with five hits, the Ducks’ Ben Lovejoy led with four blocked shots and Kesler won 85% of his 20 faceoffs. Attendance at the Honda Center was 13,682. Sharks will open the regular season against the Los Angeles Kings Wednesday at Staples Center at 7pm.