Niederreiter's OT goal lifts Wild over Sharks
SAN JOSE -- Minnesota's Nino Niederreiter stole the puck from Sharks defenseman Dylan DeMelo and scored with 1:34 left in overtime as the Wild beat the Sharks 4-3 in overtime at SAP Center on Sunday night.
San Jose rallied from a 3-1 deficit after two periods to force overtime.
The Sharks' Brent Burns started the third-period comeback with his second goal of the game and fourth of the season at 2:41 on the power play. Tomas Hertl tied it with his seventh of the season at 14:59 after Minnesota goalie Alex Stalock failed to freeze a shot by Sharks defenseman DeMelo.
Minnesota led 2-0 after the first period. The Wild capitalized on the first power play of the game as a sharp passing play made the Sharks pay for Melker Karlsson's slash of Matt Cullen at 3:07. Ryan Murphy scored his first goal of the season in his sixth game by one-timing a feed from Jason Zucker past San Jose goalie Martin Jones at 4:19.
Jones got tangled with Burns at mid-period, and Eric Staal deposited his first of the night into an empty net after taking a feed from behind the goal from Minnesota defenseman Ryan Suter.
The visitors' lead grew to 3-0 early in the second period when Staal scored his second of the game, a goal at 4:58 that stood following both an officials' review and a failed coaches' challenge by the Sharks.
The Sharks had plenty of opportunity to get back in the game on the power play. They had four in the second period, and finally struck during the dying seconds of a 5-on-3 late in the period on a Burns' one-time blast from the left circle off a cross-ice feed from Joe Thornton with 52.5 seconds left before intermission.
NOTES: San Jose D Dylan DeMelo played Sunday despite taking the butt end of a stick near his eye Saturday against Ottawa. The Sharks were, however, still without forwards Joonas Donskoi, Mikkel Boedker and Barclay Goodrow -- all with lower-body injuries. Donskoi and Boedker are day-to-day while Goodrow will miss at least a week's worth of play. D Joakim Ryan was San Jose's lone healthy scratch. ... After being scratched Friday for the first time, Minnesota C Matt Cullen replaced Chris Stewart and D Gustav Olofsson played in place of D Mike Reilly. D Jared Spurgeon was Minnesota's other healthy scratch. ... The Wild next play Tuesday when they host Calgary to start a three-game homestand. ... San Jose is idle until opening a three-game road trip in Calgary on Thursday.