Panthers need OT to earn 6-5 win over Sharks
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Jonathan Huberdeau scored 1:38 into overtime to give the Florida Panthers a wild 6-5 win over the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.
Huberdeau scored his third goal of the season to give Florida its fifth win in six games while San Jose lost for the fifth time in six tries.
Joe Pavelski capped a late third-period comeback with a pair of goals within three minutes to enable the Sharks to force overtime. Pavelski scored at 16:39 to draw San Jose within one when a backhander went off the stick of Panthers defenseman Michael Matheson and past goalie Roberto Luongo.
Then, with Sharks goalie Martin Jones pulled for the extra attacker, Pavelski scored his 20th of the season from the slot with 37.4 seconds remaining. Luongo was forced to leave after he appeared to sustain a lower-body injury on the play.
James Reimer entered and stopped both shots he faced after Luongo made 29 saves. Jones was beaten six times on the Panthers' 22 shots on goal.
Earlier in the back-and-forth period, Florida's Nick Bjugstad scored a tiebreaking goal, and Jaromir Jagr picked up career point No. 1,900 on the goal that gave the Panthers a 5-3 lead.
The sellout crowd at SAP Center recognized Jagr's milestone primary assist on Aleksander Barkov's second goal of the night at 12:41. The NHL's all-time second-leading scorer, Jagr also turned 45 years old on Wednesday.
Bjugstad scored his fourth goal of the season and second of the night 2:15 of the final period by banging home a shot from the mid-slot after San Jose rookie left winger Timo Meier was guilty of turning the puck over at the Sharks' blue line.
Barkov, who also had a pair goals, scored his 13th in close by redirecting a feed from Jagr.
San Jose scored the only goal of a second period in which it held a 14-3 edge in shots over Florida, which went the first 13:32 without putting any rubber on goal.
Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic capped a long cycle by the Joe Thornton line in Florida's end by scoring his fourth goal of the season at 6:27 on a short-draw slap shot that struck Barkov on its way past Luongo.
Joe Pavelski had a chance to put the hosts ahead, but the Sharks' captain failed to convert a penalty shot at 9:29 when he lost a handle on the puck after getting Luongo to bite on a move to the backhand.
The Panthers escaped a wild first period with a 3-2 lead. Florida scored on three consecutive shots in a span of only 2:21 early in the period by taking advantage of sloppy defensive-zone play by the Sharks.
Florida's Jussi Jokinen beat Jones easily with a one-timer from the right circle after he was left along on a 2-on-1 break. Sharks defenseman Brent Burns got caught up, lost his stick and went for Panthers winger Reilly Smith, who was already drawing defensive attention from San Jose's Paul Martin.
Jokinen's eighth goal of the season at 4:20 provided the visitors with a lead for only 31 seconds, however.
Burns struck back with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that slipped through Luongo after Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle coughed up a puck to Pavelski. Burns' 25th goal came at 4:51.
The Panthers, who managed only six shots on goal in the period, zipped to a 3-1 lead when Bjugstad scored his third goal on a breakaway at 5:35. Defenseman Aaron Ekblad supplied a great stretch pass behind San Jose defenseman Brenden Dillon to spring Bjugstad.
Then, following a Vlasic turnover, Barkov scored his 12th of the season at 7:12 with a one-time drive from the top of the right circle.
San Jose pulled closer before intermission when, after killing the only penalty of the opening period, Joel Ward was last to tip a double-deflection goal past Luongo at 15:25. Burns' original drive from the right point first struck the stick of Thornton before Ward was credited with his seventh goal of the season.
NOTES: San Jose F Patrick Marleau was honored in pregame for recently scoring his 500th career goal. He also became only the 10th player in league history to play in 600 straight games Wednesday. His ironman streak started on April 9, 2009. ... The Panthers' five-game trip continues with stop No. 3 at Anaheim on Friday. ... San Jose next travels to Arizona on Saturday. ... LW Joonas Donskoi, out since Jan. 23 with an upper-body injury, will be out until after the Sharks' bye week. He is hoping to return Feb. 5 at Vancouver. ... San Jose promoted LW Nikolay Goldobin, LW Timo Meier and D Tim Heed. Goldobin has not appeared in an NHL game since Nov. 22, 2015, and was a healthy scratch along with Heed. ... C Greg McKegg and D Jakub Kindl did not dress for Florida.