Glendale, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) – Joe Pavelski netted his fourth career hat
trick and Barclay Goodrow scored the go-ahead goal 6:23 into the third period
to boost the San Jose Sharks to a 4-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes.
Pavelski scored twice in the second period and added an empty-net tally as San
Jose snapped a three-game skid.
Antti Niemi made 34 stops for the Sharks, who received three assists from Joe
Thornton.
“I like this win for us,” Sharks center Tommy Wingels said. “I hope we can
look at this game and say we came close together as a team.”
Mark Arcobello and Martin Erat lit the lamp in the opening stanza for Arizona.
Mike Smith turned aside 22 shots for the Coyotes, who have lost six straight
at Gila River Arena since downing Winnipeg on Jan. 8.
“I thought we created some chances. I think we’re going to get better as we go
along,” Coyotes center Sam Gagner said. “We have to continue to find ways to
create offense.”
Goodrow carried the puck to the right circle before taking a look toward the
slot. Instead of passing the puck, his rising shot gave the Sharks a 3-2 edge.
Pavelski cemented the outcome with 1:26 remaining.
Arcobello, who was claimed off waivers from Pittsburgh on Wednesday, netted
his ninth goal of the season in his Coyotes debut. His shot from the right
circle beat Niemi blocker side 1:42 into the game.
Erat made it 2-0 at the 15:07 mark with a power-play tally. With Matt
Tennyson’s interference penalty about to expire, Gagner fed a pass from the
left corner to a streaking Erat, whose shot from the slot sailed past Niemi.
The Sharks got a fortunate bounce to halve the deficit 27 seconds into the
middle period. Pavelski held the puck, below the goal line to the right of the
net and tried a centering pass. The disc deflected off the skate of Coyotes
defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and past Smith.
Pavelski equaled the contest at the 13:09 mark. While on the power play, Logan
Couture passed the puck from the right corner to the right circle, where
Pavelski delivered a shot that beat Smith just under the crossbar. It was
Pavelski’s 30th goal of the season.
Game Notes
San Jose’s Todd McLellan earned NHL head coaching win No. 300, becoming the
second-fastest to reach the mark. He accomplished the feat in his 515th game,
just behind Bruce Boudreau (496 games) … Arcobello, who has also played for
Edmonton and Nashville this season, is just the third player in NHL history to
see action with four teams in a campaign (Dennis O’Brien, 1977-78 and Dave
McLlwain, 1991-92) … Arizona has outscored San Jose, 5-0, in the first
period this season … The Sharks were without defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic
(upper body) for a fourth consecutive game.
