In front of a sellout crowd at SAP Center, the San Jose Sharks gave their fans something they had not seen in more than a month: a win on home ice. Joe Pavelski scored twice in the third period, Joe Thornton and Brent Burns each had a power-play goal, and the Sharks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2, ending a four-game home losing streak.
At 5-10-0, the Sharks have the fewest home wins in the NHL. They had not won at home since a 5-2 victory against the Calgary Flames on Nov. 28. Pavelski scored the go-ahead goal at 13:45 of the third period and later on the power play. He took a cross-ice pass from Justin Braun and beat goaltender Steve Mason with a shot from the left circle on a rush for a 3-2 lead. It was his NHL-leading seventh game-winning goal. Pavelski scored his Sharks-leading 20th goal from close range, lifting a backhand over Mason with 48.4 seconds remaining.
San Jose is 16-1-0 with two ties in its past 19 games against Philadelphia dating to the 2001-02 season. Sharks center Logan Couture returned to the lineup after missing seven games while recovering from surgery on his right thigh to stop arterial bleeding. He assisted on power-play goals by Thornton and Burns but said he didn't feel great physically.
Sean Couturier gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead at 4:19 of the third period. Wayne Simmonds stole the puck from Burns and got it to Couturier, who scored on a breakaway. He faked left, went right and beat Martin Jones with a backhand.
The Flyers lead didn't last long. Burns answered with a power-play goal from the slot at 5:54 with R.J. Umberger in the penalty box for slashing. The primary assist went to Couture, who sent a pass from below the goal line through traffic to Burns. The goal was Burns' 15th of the season.
With 7:08 left to play, Burns checked Chris VandeVelde to the ice near the boards in the Philadelphia zone. VandeVelde was helped off the ice and went to the dressing room. Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said he thought Burns should have been penalized.
Jones, who had a shutout in San Jose's 1-0 overtime victory against Philadelphia on Nov. 19, made 17 saves. Mason made 29 saves in his fifth straight start. He was supposed to back up Michal Neuvirth, but Neuvirth became ill.
Thornton scored a power-play goal at 9:53 of the second period, giving the Sharks a 1-0 lead. He took a pass in the right circle from Patrick Marleau and lifted a shot over Mason's left shoulder, just inside the post. Thornton extended his point streak to seven games. It was his seventh goal, five of them on the power play. The assists went to Marleau and Couture.
The Flyers pulled even at 15:49 when Giroux scored right off a faceoff with Thornton in the right circle. Giroux's slap shot bounced off Jones' chest, through his legs and into the net. It was Giroux's Flyers-leading 12th of the season and ended his six-game goal drought.
Sharks Bites
Joe Pavelski: "It's great. It's what we expect. Obviously, now that's the template we need to copy and play with. We have to go from there. It's a good win tonight. We can't get ahead of ourselves. We need to come out with that energy again. Coming in on the entry, [Braun] just kind of held on to it, held on to it and it kind of developed late, and he made a good play."Logan Couture: "Probably didn't look that good. On the power play, felt comfortable. Had the puck. It was lucky that we got some power plays. I was able to kind of establish that game where I was able to feel the puck and get some chances and build my confidence that way. I didn't really generate much 5-on-5. Hopefully, moving forward I can work on that."
Brent Burns: "Great play by [Couture]. We talked about coming down and making low plays coming in, and it was a great pass by him."
Joe Thornton: "We've been playing good, we just haven't been winning at home. It's nice to finally see all this hard work paying off at home."
Peter DeBoer: "I've had Claude on a couple teams I've coached with Canada, and he's a special faceoff guy. Might be the best in the world at different things. It surprised me, the goal, but it didn't surprise me who did it."
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