Sharks defeat Flyers 3-2 in shootout

PHILADELPHIA - The “you never know” voices in the Sharks’ locker room might be a little louder now.

The Sharks skated off with a 3-2 shootout victory Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers, giving just a tad more credibility to their talk of making the playoffs.

And they did it playing more than two-thirds of the game with only five defensemen after Marc-Edouard Vlasic was hurt - and only four defensemen for the final seven minutes of regulation plus overtime when Scott Hannan was driven into the boards by Flyers center Brayden Schenn and didn’t come back.

“When you get to four, it’s pretty easy,” coach Todd McLellan said of any coaching adjustments that needed to be made at that point. “You just keep saying ‘Next.’ ”

The Sharks dominated the game, outshooting the Flyers 44-18, including a 5-0 advantage in overtime after Schenn drilled one of San Jose’s remaining defensemen, Matt Irwin, into the boards.

But it took a goal by Melker Karlsson in the shootout’s third round that kept the Sharks alive and another in the fifth round by Brent Burns that gave them the victory they need to nurture any hope for a late surge to the postseason.

Forward Jakub Voracek was the only Flyer to get the puck past Sharks goalie Alex Stalock, making his first start since his 4-0 shutout of the Montreal Canadiens on March 2.

Defenseman Matt Irwin gave the Sharks the lead at 4:38 of the first period with a shot from just inside the blue line that somehow got past Philadelphia goalie Steve Mason. Less than two minutes later, a shot by Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossmann pinballed its way toward the net, then off the left post before Michael Raffl got his stick on it to tie the score.

San Jose regained the lead on a power-play goal credited to Joe Pavelski that initially appeared to be disallowed because of a quick whistle that could be heard before the puck crossed the line.

But the play was reviewed in the NHL Situation Room in Toronto, and it was determined that “the shot crossed the goal line as the culmination of a continuous play where the result was unaffected by the whistle.”

The win was San Jose’s second in a row and evened its record on this seven-game trip at 3-3. And it did provide a little kindling for whatever playoff fire still burns.

“We still have an opportunity. We have a chance,” McLellan said. “Until that goes away ... we get some help and we string some games out, you never know.”