They had to work overtime, but the Sharks finally found a way to win a home game after giving up the first goal. Tomas Hertl scored at 1:12 of overtime, lifting the Sharks to a 4-3 victory against the Stars. The Sharks won for the first time in 13 games at SAP Center this season when allowing the first goal; they are 7-0-0 when scoring first at home. San Jose hadn't won at home after giving up the first goal since Jan. 29 against the Anaheim Ducks.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored two goals in a game for the first time in his career and had the primary assist on Hertl's game-winner. Chris Tierney also scored for the Sharks, who have won five consecutive games. Martin Jones made 32 saves. San Jose won its third straight home game, a season-high. Hertl took a pass from Vlasic and ripped his game-winner from below the right faceoff dot past ex-Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi.
Ales Hemsky, Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza scored for Dallas, and Niemi made 35 saves in his first game at SAP Center since being traded to the Stars in June.
The Stars lost their third straight game and are 1-4-2 in January. Dallas lost 4-2 at the Anaheim Ducks on Friday and concludes a three-game California road trip against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.
The Sharks led 2-1 after two periods, but Dallas pulled even on Seguin's goal 33 seconds into the third. Seguin took a pass in the slot from Jamie Benn and put the puck through Jones' legs for his 25th goal of the season.
The Stars had the first 11 shots of the period, but Vlasic scored a power play goal at 7:51 on the Sharks' second shot to give San Jose a 3-2 lead. Vlasic, part of the Sharks second power play unit, took a pass from Dylan DeMelo at the top of the left circle and beat Niemi to the far side. The goal was Vlasic's seventh of the season; the assist was DeMelo's first NHL point.
San Jose's lead didn't last long. Twelve seconds later, Spezza spun and fired a shot from the right circle into the upper left corner for his 15th goal. The Stars outshot San Jose 13-6 in the third period.
San Jose outshot Dallas 16-13 in a fast-paced first period, but Hemsky had the only goal; he gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 11:15 by beating Jones from close range after Mattias Janmark poked the puck to him in the slot. The goal was the fourth of the season for Hemsky, who missed six games with a lower-body injury before returning against Anaheim.
San Jose got goals by Vlasic and Tierney in the second period. Vlasic scored at 3:54 by joining the rush, taking a pass in the left circle from Joe Thornton and beating Niemi with a wrist shot. The assist was the 926th of Thornton's career, moving him into a tie for 17th with Stan Mikita on the NHL's all-time list.
Tierney gave the Sharks their first lead when he scored at 11:07 on San Jose's first power play, with Alex Goligoski in the penalty box for interference. Niemi made a glove save on Tommy Wingels' blast from the left circle but couldn't control the puck, and Tierney knocked the rebound in from the slot. It was Tierney's fifth goal of the season and second in three games, and he scored it as part of San Jose's third power play unit. Jordie Benn left the game with a lower-body injury in the first period and did not return. He saw 3:50 of ice time on seven shifts before leaving.
Sharks Bites
Chris Tierney: "I think everyone just has the right mind set. Everyone is positive when we come in here. I think we're having a lot of good starts at home right now and that's been a big help. The guys are having fun. We're just carrying the momentum right now.""Sometimes the power play is going to be hot and cold. If we get out there at the end we want to score, too. I think it was a big goal, and I'm glad [Matt] Nieto and Wingels made plays and I just had to be there to tap it in."
Marc-Edouard Vlasic: "If you join the rush, shoot it [of his game plan against Niemi]. If you shoot it hard enough, you shoot to score and you'll get rewarded. I got rewarded twice tonight. Hertl was in front on the power-play goal and he didn't see it. Then I almost scored in overtime, but Hertl scored. It's shooting the puck and guys getting in front of him."
Peter DeBoer: "I liked our first period. I loved our second period. I thought through 40 minutes I was very happy with our game. I don't know if we thought it was just going to be easy from that point, but you have to give them credit. They loaded the big line out there with all three guys [Seguin, Benn and Spezza]. They made a push in the first shift, and we had trouble getting the momentum back after that."
Stars Quotes
Antti Niemi: "That was a lucky goal for Hertl, and you can tell him that. It was a quick shot and it might have hit something. I didn't see it."Lindy Ruff: "It was a good point for us. We played a heck of a third period. We had three or four other looks that could have won it for us."
Jason Spezza: "It was definitely a step in the right direction. We resembled more of the way we should be playing."
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