Detroit Red Wings @ San Jose Sharks 3-2 - 02/26

The Detroit Red Wings started slowly but finished with a flurry Thursday, rallying to defeat the San Jose Sharks 3-2 at SAP Center. The Red Wings were outshot 14-4 in the first period, when they fell behind 1-0. For the rest of the game, they outshot the Sharks 31-8. Luke Glendening scored the game-winning goal with 1:15 left. Gustav Nyquist tracked down a loose puck behind the net and sent it in front to Glendening, who put a backhand shot from close range past Sharks goalie Antti Niemi. Teemu Pulkkinen and Pavel Datsyuk also scored for Detroit (34-15-11), and Jimmy Howard made 20 saves. Matt Irwin and Patrick Marleau scored, and Niemi made 31 saves for San Jose (30-24-8), which suffered another blow to its playoff hopes. The Sharks trail the Minnesota Wild by three points for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Sharks had a 2-1 lead to start the third period, but the Red Wings had the momentum after a strong second. Then at 7:33 of the period, Sharks forward Matt Nieto was given a four-minute penalty for high sticking Tomas Jurco. San Jose killed off the double-minor against Detroit, which has NHL's No. 1 power play. But at 13:32, Datsyuk took a pass from Tomas Tatar in the slot and sent a backhand shot past Niemi, tying the game 2-2 with his 22nd goal. Darren Helm provided a screen for Datsyuk. The Sharks hadn't played since Saturday, when they lost 2-1 to the Los Angeles Kings in the 2015 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series game at Levi's Stadium, and they came out in the first period with plenty of energy. San Jose took a 1-0 lead on Irwin's sixth goal at 7:06. Irwin sent a shot from the blue line through heavy traffic that beat Howard to his glove side. The Sharks had chances to add to their lead in the first period, including two power plays, but Howard stopped the final eight shots he faced. The Red Wings didn't have a shot on goal until Glendening tested Niemi at 8:23 of the first period. Detroit outshot San Jose 18-6 in the second period, when each team scored a goal. After Sharks defenseman Brent Burns went to the penalty box for hooking Datsyuk at 3:10, Pulkkinen scored on the power play.Early in the power play, Stephen Weiss fired a shot that broke defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic's stick, putting San Jose into a deeper bind. Weiss sent the puck toward the net, and it bounced off Vlasic's skate to Riley Sheahan, who passed it to Pulkkinen in the left circle, and the rookie forward beat Niemi for his second NHL goal. The Sharks answered on the power play when Marleau scored his 450th career goal at 6:51. With Jonathan Ericsson in the penalty box for interference, the Sharks needed nine seconds to score while up a man. Logan Couture's shot was deflected wide to the right of the net, and the puck went off the back boards and bounced back toward the crease. Joe Pavelski poked the puck ahead to Marleau, who elevated a shot from close range past Howard. The Red Wings turned up the heat on Niemi for the remainder of the period, but they couldn't get the puck past him again. With 1:28 left in the second period, Pulkkinen fired a shot that bounced off Niemi, landed behind him in the blue paint and trickled toward the net. A diving Niemi got his stick on the puck and stopped it from going over the goal line. In the closing seconds, Niemi made back-to-back saves of Tatar shots, first with his left pad, then with his glove. But in the third period, the Red Wings broke through to score twice against San Jose, which had gone 12-2-1 in its previous 15 games against Detroit. Red Wings defenseman Brendan Smith left the game with 3:57 remaining after sustaining an apparent hand injury. Babcock had no update on his condition. Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg missed his third straight game since being punched in the head by the Dallas Stars' Jamie Benn on Saturday. Red Wings defenseman Kyle Quincey missed his fourth straight games with bone chips in his ankle.

Sharks Quotes

Matt Irwin: "We were happy with our first (period), but the tables turned," Irwin said. "They picked their game up, and we didn't elevate our game. We were well aware they were going to play better in the second period. We didn't push back. It's devastating. This time of the year, it's unacceptable. This is where we have to put points in the bank and set ourselves up for the stretch run. And to not get these points is extremely frustrating."
Logan Couture: "We were back on our heels and took too many penalties in the third. They skated better than we did. They got pucks deep. We didn't. They skated the puck good through the neutral zone. We need to find ways to win games. We're finding ways to lose games right now."