"It's so easy to play with him,"
Thornton said of the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Burns. "He just
goes. He's just a beast out there. Nobody can handle his size and his
speed. It just forces you to try to keep up with him because he's
going so fast. It's great to watch."
Burns always plays the game at 100 mph, but he
said he had a "little bit extra" energy Thursday night
against the Ducks because of the game's magnitude. The win gives the
Sharks 99 points, two more than Anaheim, and moved them into first
place for the first time since the end of play on Dec. 5.
"You realize how big the game was for both
teams and obviously, playing here at home, we feel it's important to
win these games," Burns said.
The Sharks trailed Anaheim by 13 points through
games of Jan. 15. Since then, San Jose has gone 17-6-1 while the
Ducks are 9-10-2.
"This was something we've had our eye on
for a while," Sharks forward Tommy
Wingels said of regaining first place. "Now that we've
got a grasp of it, we can't look back. We've got to keep the pedal
down and try to pull away. We worked this hard to get here. We can't
give it up now."
The St. Louis Blues lead the NHL with 101 points;
the Sharks are two points back, tied with the Boston Bruins. The
Ducks remained mired in a slump. They're 2-4-2 in their past eight
games, but they have 12 games left to 11 for San Jose.
"We have a game in hand, and we get the
(Florida) Panthers on Sunday," Perry said. "It's not
over until the last game of the season has been played. We're still
pushing to get that No. 1 seed."
With the game tied 2-2, Thornton sent a shot from
along the left boards toward the crease; Burns, slashing through the
low slot, redirected the puck past defenseman Bryan
Allen and goaltender Frederik
Andersen for the game-winner and his career-high 20th goal of the
season.
"I just saw Burnsie's big body in front,"
Thornton said. "So just, yeah, throw it in there, and lucky
it hit off him and he put it in the back of the net."
Patrick
Marleau also scored for the Sharks. Mathieu
Perreault and Teemu
Selanne had goals for the Ducks. Sharks goaltender Antti
Niemi made 16 saves, while Andersen stopped 25 shots.
"It was even all game and they get the
bounce and we don't get the bounce," Ducks coach Bruce
Boudreau whined. "That's the way it goes. It was a tough game
but that's what happens when two good teams go at it and fight tooth
and nail. Everybody knew the importance of this game. Both teams
looked focused and played to the end."
Selanne snapped a 1-1 tie 1:43 into the third
period with his eighth goal of the season. Ducks center Ryan
Getzlaf won a battle for the puck with Marty
Havlat along the boards and sent the puck to Perry, who fired a
shot from the low slot that bounced off Selanne and went past Niemi.
The Sharks nearly pulled even on a power play after Perreault went to
the box for slashing Burns at 2:18. Logan
Couture unleashed a shot through traffic from the right circle,
and the puck was headed toward the goal line when Anaheim forward
Daniel Winnik
cleared it with an inch to spare. Thornton made it 2-2 at 8:11,
lifting a rebound over a diving Andersen. Joe
Pavelski ignited a 2-on-1 rush with a slick pass to Burns off the
left boards. Burns turned on the speed, then fired a shot that
Andersen stopped, but the puck went directly to Thornton, who snapped
it home.
"He is a wrecking ball," Sharks
coach Todd McLellan said of Burns. "He's a one-man wrecking
crew out there when he plays that way. His physicality showed up
early."
Selanne nearly scored again with 5:41 left to
play. His shot was deflected over the crossbar and onto the net, then
bounced back and dropped in the crease and went over the goal line.
The Situation Room in Toronto initiated a video review, but the
referee said he blew the whistle to stop play when the puck was on
top of the net. The play was not reviewable, and the no-goal call
stood.
"It was too quick to blow the whistle,"
Perry said. "He sees the puck on top of the net. He's got to
wait to see what happens."
Marleau gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 12:49 of the
first period with a power-play goal. From behind Anaheim's net,
Thornton fed a pass to Marleau in the lower left circle. Marleau
ripped a wrist shot that hit the crossbar, then bounced off
Andersen's shoulder and into the top of the net for a goal before
dropping into the crease. When Marleau scored, Ducks defenseman Luca
Sbisa was in the penalty box for roughing Wingels. Sbisa knocked
Wingels into the boards. Then as Wingels tried to get up, Sbisa
blasted him face-first into the boards again, drawing the penalty.
The Sharks entered the game with four power-play goals in their past
65 attempts, but they've scored a power-play goal in back-to-back
games for the first time since Jan. 18 and 20 against the Tampa Bay
Lightning and Calgary Flames. Anaheim allowed a power-play goal for
the seventh straight game. The Sharks outshot the Ducks 6-4 in a
tight-checking first period.
"I thought we played a great period,"
Perry said. "We know they like to come out hard and try to
win the game right then. We weathered the storm and stayed right with
them. They got the power play goal but we played a great period."
The Ducks pulled even on Perreault's power-play
goal at 17:40 of the second period. Anaheim was 0-for-21 in its
previous six games on the power play and 3-for-53 in their previous
16 before Perreault one-timed a rebound past Niemi. He had stopped
Perry's blast, but the puck ricocheted off his shoulder to Perreault
in the low right circle. The Sharks had killed off 1:54 of a tripping
penalty to Couture, but defenseman Marc-Edouard
Vlasic joined him in the box at 17:30 for interfering with
Selanne. Perreault scored a 5-on-4 goal 10 seconds later. Andersen
stopped all 11 shots that came his way in the second, including one
from Burns on a breakaway.
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