SAN JOSE — Evander Kane scored 41 seconds into overtime as the Sharks snapped a three-game losing streak Monday with a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues at SAP Center.
Kane came into Blues’ zone on an odd-man rush and snapped a shot past goalie Ville Husso for his ninth goal of the season as the Sharks closed their seven-game homestand with a 2-4-1 record.
“I was a little ahead of (Karlsson) and I felt I was all alone there, so I was definitely thinking shot,” Kane said. “I was happy I was able to put it in the back of the net.”
Logan Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic also scored in the win and Devan Dubnyk finished with 24 saves as the Sharks improved to 3-3-0 against the Blues this season. The two teams conclude their season series with each other with games March 19 and 20 in San Jose.
Couture’s goal came on the power play at the 7:58 mark of the third period as the Sharks tied the game 2-2. An official review determined that the puck deflected off of Couture’s skate and into the net in a legal fashion.
Of Couture’s 13 goals this season, six have come against the Blues. The Sharks trailed 2-1 going into the third period.
“Huge, coming from behind there,” Couture said. “I thought we competed harder in that third. The first two periods we weren’t getting any offense. We were able to get a power-play goal and then a big play by Kane.”
With Kevin Labanc serving a tripping penalty, a David Perron shot from the right faceoff circle was tipped by Brayden Schenn past Dubnyk with 54 seconds left in the second period for a 2-1 Blues lead.
Labanc was benched for the rest of the game, as John Leonard took his spot on a line with Couture and Kane in the second period. Labanc finished with 10:05 in ice time.
“We were building some momentum with two or three shifts in a row and then we just took penalty after penalty. It ruined our whole flow,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said, adding that the message before the third period was to “just leave it all out there and empty the tanks on the ice for 20 minutes and play a smart home period.”
The win came on Boughner’s 50th birthday. The former enforcer had a 10-year NHL career from 1996 to 2006, and now has a 103-93-28 record as a head coach. The Sharks next play Friday and Saturday in Anaheim against the Ducks.
“Birthday or not, obviously we needed a win here. But it was nice,” Boughner said. “A couple of guys were joking before the game that they would be putting money on the board for my birthday. But it was just a great way that we won, coming from behind against a good team. We had to get that mentality, we talked about it all year, that 2-1, 3-2 mentality and tonight it was there.”
The Sharks managed just 11 shots on Husso in the first two periods, but Vlasic scored for the Sharks at the 7:00 mark of the second period to tie the game 1-1.
Heavyweights Kurtis Gabriel and Kyle Clifford dropped the gloves at the 2:35 mark of the first period. The two were jawing at each other in pregame warmups, going almost nose-to-nose as the respective teams went through their usual routines.
They fought the first chance they got, right after a faceoff on their first shifts of the game. Both Gabriel and Clifford each landed a huge shot before the fight ended with Gabriel landing on top of Clifford.
The Sharks were playing without Tomas Hertl and Marcus Sorensen, who both remain in the NHL’s COVID protocol, and forward Timo Meier, who missed his second straight game Monday with a lower-body injury. Meier skated Monday morning but did not participate in pregame warmups.
Hertl could be back at practice as soon as Monday and Meier is considered day-to-day. The Sharks need all of the reinforcements they can get as try to get back into the playoff picture. As of Tuesday, the Sharks are eighth in the West Division, seven points back of the fourth-place Colorado Avalanche.
With Meier out, Joachim Blichfeld was reinserted in the lineup after he served his two-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Nathan MacKinnon last week. Blichfeld, who sat out both of the games with the Vegas Golden Knights, began the game on a line with Patrick Marleau and Ryan Donato.
Blichfeld reiterated Monday morning he wasn’t intentionally trying to hurt MacKinnon. As he was skating toward the Sharks bench for a change, Blichfeld clipped MacKinnon’s shoulder and head with his left shoulder. He was given a match penalty at the 8:08 mark of the third period, a call that was upheld after officials reviewed the play. MacKinnon left the game to get examined and did not return.
Blichfeld argued in his hearing with the NHL last week that there was no intent to injure. But in handing out the suspension, the NHL ruled that the main point of contact from Blichfeld’s hit was MacKinnon’s head, and that contact with the head was avoidable.
“I was just trying to make a play and wanted to hit his chest and his shoulder,” Blichfeld said Monday. “Obviously, I didn’t want to hurt him and I hope he’s OK.”
MacKinnon has not played since the hit as he missed his third straight game when the Avalanche hosted the Arizona Coyotes. Colorado coach Jared Bednar said that MacKinnon is “doing great” but was not an option to play because of the league’s medical protocols.
“It’s MacKinnon, he’s a really good player and I didn’t want to hurt him,” Blichfeld said. “So it was just unfortunate and like I said, I hope he’s OK.”
“There was no intent,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said Monday of Blichfeld’s hit. “It’s good that it was only a couple games for him, and we get him back playing.”
As Blichfeld returned to the lineup, Noah Gregor was a scratch.
