By Barbara Mason

AP photo: San Jose Sharks Brent Burns (88) celebrates with teammates during a bench victory lap after scoring a second period goal against the New York Islanders on Friday afternoon at SAP Center

Saturday afternoon the San Jose Sharks took on the Islanders at Sap working on a two-game winning streak.  The fans were treated to a real thriller in the closing minutes of the game played on Black Friday.  Having a lot more fun than the thousands who packed the local malls you can be sure that not a single fan was in the least disappointed with this wild finish.

Although the Islanders were the first on the scoreboard it would be the last that time in the game that New York would have the lead.  At 3:59 Anders Lee scored a power play goal for New York assisted by Josh Bailey and Nick Leddy for the early 1-0 lead.  It was Lee’s 4th goal of the season.

The second period was all Sharks when at 5:09 Joe Pavelski scored his 7th goal of the season to tie up the game 1-1.  He was assisted by Chris Tierney and Matt Nieto.   San Jose was not finished,  scoring again at 5:43 off the stick of Brent Burns for his 8th goal of the season.  His assists were Kevin Lebanc and Paul Martin to take a 2-1 lead.

Neither team would score until the final minute of the third period in this game.  The Islanders would tie up the game at 19:02 when Nick Leddy scored his 4th goal of the season to tie up the game 2-2.  He was assisted by John Tavares and Brock Nelson.  San Jose would have less than a minute to win this game and avoid the overtime.  At 19:37 San Jose put this game on ice so to speak when Patrick Marleau sent the puck careening into the net for his 6th goal of the game and the 3-2 lead. 3-2 would be the final.  Brent Burns and Paul Martin assisted Marleau for the winning goal and first place in the Pacific Division.

The Sharks will take on the rival Anaheim Ducks Saturday night in en effort to retain their position atop the Pacific Division.  The Black and Teal will be going for their 4th win in a row.  The puck drops at 7:30.