San Jose, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – Antoine Vermette scored the lone goal of
the shootout to lift the Arizona Coyotes to a 4-3 victory over the San Jose
Sharks on Saturday.
Vermette, Arizona’s third shooter, skated up the middle and wristed a shot off
the left goal post and off the back of Antti Niemi for the win.
Shane Doan finished with a goal and an assist, David Schlemko and Vermette
also scored and Mikkel Boedker supplied two helpers for the Coyotes, who ended
a two-game skid.
“Good teams push back,” said Vermette. “We stuck with it and came back.”
Devan Dubnyk made 40 saves and stopped San Jose’s three attempts in the
shootout to improve his record to 5-0-1 on the season.
Joe Pavelski, Andrew Desjardins and Tommy Wingels all lit the lamp for the
Sharks, who received 22 saves from Niemi.
“Too many mistakes,” Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said. “When you get three
(goals), you should be able to win the game.”
The Coyotes took a 3-2 lead 52 seconds into the third period after Sam Gagner
backhanded a shot on net and Doan willed his way to the front of the net to
fire home the rebound.
San Jose cashed in on Michael Stone’s hooking penalty as Pavelski tipped
Brent Burns’ point shot into the net for a 3-3 game 7:47 into the third.
The Sharks were unable to convert on Doan’s tripping penalty early in the
extra session, sending the game into a shootout.
Vermette opened the scoring on the power play by tipping in a shot from the
point 6:08 into the game
Schlemko doubled Arizona’s lead with a wrister over the glove of Niemi from
the slot at 12:05 of the first.
The Sharks tied the game with two goals in the middle frame.
Barclay Goodrow forced a turnover at the blue line, raced through the neutral
zone and sent a cross-ice feed to Wingels, who capped the sequence with a one-
timer for a short-handed marker at 4:11.
Desjardins made it a 2-2 game with 2:07 left in the second after depositing
Dubnyk’s juicy rebound in the slot with a wrister into an open net.
Game Notes
Boedker tallied his 100th career assist … Pavelski scored his 200th career
goal … Coyotes forward Martin Hanzal missed a third straight game with a
lower-body injury … Defenseman Brenden Dillon logged 21:20 of ice time in
his Sharks debut. He was traded from Dallas in exchange for defenseman Jason
Demers and a 2016 third-round pick on Thursday.
