John Klingberg scored 68 seconds into overtime as the Anaheim Ducks came back to beat the San Jose Sharks 5-4 on Friday at Honda Center.
Tomas Hertl lost the puck near the Sharks’ blue line and Mason McTavish took over. He passed the puck to Troy Terry, who found Klingberg for a one-timer from the slot that beat Sharks goalie Kaapo Kahkonen for his fifth goal of the season.
Timo Meier scored twice and Matt Nieto and Steven Lorentz each added one goal as the Sharks wrapped up their season series with the Ducks with a 1-0-3 record.
“I thought for a lot of the game we were outplaying them, outshooting them, and then just like many times this year, where we just kind of find a way to lose this game,” Meier said. “I don’t really know what to say, it’s obviously frustrating.”
McTavish scored with 6:47 left in the third period to tie the game 4-4. The goal came after a giveaway by Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who was looking to pass to Evgeny Svechnikov inside the Sharks’ zone.
The Sharks challenged the play for offside, feeling Adam Henrique did not get back onside before the puck was carried into the San Jose end. But after a lengthy review, the goal was ruled to be good, resulting in McTavish’s second goal of the game and ninth of the season.
Meier was credited with two second-period goals and finished with a staggering 10 shots on net for the Sharks, who were looking to win consecutive games for just the fourth time this season.
Kahkonen, who finished with 24 saves Friday, was also in net for the Sharks’ 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks last Sunday at United Center.
Meier tipped two shots by Kevin Labanc past Ducks goalie Anthony Stolarz in the second period as the Sharks took a 4-3 lead. Initially, Labanc received credit for the goals, which came at the 10:16 and 13;20 marks of the second period, before the NHL made the change.
The Sharks, who outshot the Ducks 39-23 during 5-on-5 play, host the NHL-leading Boston Bruins on Saturday night.
Nieto and Lorentz both scored in the first period, with Lorentz’s goal at the 6:03 mark giving the Sharks a 2-0 lead.
On the play, Jonah Gadjovich, fished the puck out of the corner and fed the puck back to Karlsson, who fired the puck toward the net. Lorentz redirected the puck past Stolarz for his fourth goal of the season, giving Karlsson assists in 14 straight games.
Karlsson has two goals and 20 assists in his 14-game point streak, as he’s remained the NHL’s points leader among defensemen with 54.
Only seven NHL defensemen in the last 30 years have had point streaks of at least 14 games. He is also now the fifth blueliner in league history with assists in 14 straight games, following Paul Coffey (17 GP in 1985-86), Brian Leetch (15 GP in 1991-92), Phil Housley (14 GP in 1992-93) and Bobby Orr (14 GP in 1970-71).
Mistakes led to the Sharks’ first two goals against, as the Ducks tied the game 2-2.
A Vlasic turnover later led to Trevor Zegras’ 11th goal of the season at the 6:38 mark. Later at 4-on-4, McTavish skated around a tired Karlsson in the Sharks’ zone and put a pass right on the stick of Ryan Strome, who redirected it past goalie Kahkonen at the 14:15 mark.
“I really liked a lot about our game tonight, but unfortunately, we got off to such a great start,I thought we thought it was gonna be easy,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “I thought the six minutes in penalties kind of changed the way the first period went, obviously it’s 2-2.
“I really liked our second period. They get a lucky bounce on the stanchion and get the third goal. The fourth goal I still think was offsides, but it’s unfortunate we weren’t able to get the two points.”
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