Sharks end skid, clinch playoff berth with 5-4 overtime win

SAN JOSE - Brent Burns scored a power-play goal 3:10 into overtime and the San Jose Sharks snapped a six-game losing streak on the night they clinched a playoff berth, rallying past the New York Rangers 5-4 on Tuesday.

Chris Tierney tied the game with his second goal with 2:15 to play in regulation after San Jose had blown a 3-1 lead.

Jannik Hansen added his first goal since joining the Sharks, and Melker Karlsson scored short-handed.

San Jose’s postseason spot was secured midway through the game when Los Angeles lost at Edmonton.

The scuffling Rangers also wrapped up a playoff trip, for the seventh year in a row, by earning one point. New York lost for the fourth time in five games.

The Sharks appeared headed to another defeat before Tierney tied it on a rebound. That set the stage for Burns’ drive from the circle that ended his 16-game goal drought.

J.T. Miller scored his second goal early in the third period to put New York up 4-3. Derek Stepan and Jesper Fast scored less than two minutes apart bridging the second intermission to erase a 3-1 deficit.

Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves but lost his second consecutive start after missing seven games with a hip injury.

Martin Jones stopped 24 shots for San Jose.

The Sharks remained tied for second place in the Pacific Division with the Oilers, two points behind Anaheim with six games to play.

San Jose finally got to play with a lead for the first time in two weeks when it struck first in the opening minutes.

Hansen poked a loose puck in the crease past Lundqvist to give the Sharks their first lead at any point since beating Buffalo 4-1 on March 14.

The Rangers answered when Miller beat Jones from the faceoff circle for his 21st goal, and looked as though they could add onto that during a late power play.

But Karlsson put San Jose back ahead when he skated up ice on a 2-on-1, looked off a defender and beat Lundqvist to the stick side for his 10th goal. Karlsson had missed the previous eight games with a lower-body injury.

Tierney’s goal midway through the second made it 3-1.

NOTES

The Sharks called up forward Kevin Labanc from the AHL to replace injured Logan Couture in the lineup. Couture was hit in the face by a puck Saturday in Nashville.

Sharks forward Micheal Haley served his one-game suspension for punching Nashville’s Calle Jarnkrok.

Rangers D Kevin Klein sat out with a stiff back.

UP NEXT

Rangers: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday.

Sharks: At the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.