SAN JOSE - Tomas Hertl thought he gave the San Jose Sharks an insurance goal with 9:23 left in Saturday’s game against the Arizona Coyotes. It was disallowed, but Hertl just had to wait another 21 seconds for his next opportunity.
Hertl redirected a Brent Burns shot from the point past goalie Louis Domingue for his 11th goal of the season, as the Sharks capped their two-game homestand with a 4-1 win against the Coyotes before a sold-out crowd of 17,562 at SAP Center.
Goalie Martin Jones made 22 saves, including just one in the third period when the Sharks took control
The Sharks now have at least a point in their last nine home games (6-0-3) and are 11-12-3 on home ice for the season. It’s their longest point streak at home since they went 11-0-1 from Nov. 21, 2013 to Jan. 19 2014.
That’s not insignificant considering the Sharks started this season 5-12 at home ice, their worst record after 17 games since they moved into the downtown arena 23 years ago.
Shortly after killing a penalty to Tommy Wingels, Marc-Edouard Vlasic sent a puck toward the Coyotes net that was tipped in by Hertl. But his stick was above the crossbar when it touched the puck, and the goal was disallowed.
Less than a half-minute later, Hertl’s stick was much closer to the ice when he redirected Burns’ shot past Domingue. Joonas Donskoi added an empty netter with 1:19 left in the third to cap San Jose’s scoring.
The Sharks killed all three penalties they took, including a holding call on Wingels 7:58 into the third period. Up until that point, the Coyotes didn’t have a shot on goal, and they managed just one with the man advantage on Wingels’ penalty.
The Sharks had a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals by Matt Tennyson and Chris Tierney, and considering the Coyotes were playing the second game of a back-to-back after beating Calgary at home on Friday, it almost felt like that like would suffice for offense.
The Sharks scored on their first shot just 2:59 into the first period. After taking a pass from Logan Couture, Tennyson’s shot from the blue line through traffic got through Domingue for a 1-0 San Jose lead. It was Tennyson’s second goal of the season, and his first since Dec. 5.
The Sharks went up 2-0 with 1:04 left in the first on Tierney’s tap-in goal, his seventh of the season and his first since Jan. 21.
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