Sharks beat Coyotes 6-5 in OT

SAN JOSE - Marc-Edouard Vlasic got credit for scoring the winning goal in overtime for the San Jose Sharks against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night at SAP Center. Joonas Donskoi did just about everything else to save the Sharks from an embarrassing defeat.

Vlasic charged toward the net and made contact with Christian Dvorak, whose skate tapped the puck over the goal line with 2:18 left in overtime to give the Sharks a dramatic 6-5 win at SAP Center. Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton had the assists as the Sharks snapped a three-game losing streak.

The Sharks made some dazzling offensive plays - most notably by Donskoi - in their first game in nearly a week. Donskoi had a goal and an assist before he scored with ?15.8 seconds left in the third period to tie the game 5-5.

Donskoi had also given the Sharks a 4-3 lead at the 17:07 mark of the second period with a nifty individual effort. Donskoi got a stick on a long pass from Mikkel Boedker, and as the puck slid toward the Coyotes’ goal, he raced in and chipped it over a charging Scott Wedgewood into the net to snap a 10-game goal drought.

Donskoi also had a memorable assist as part of a three-goal first period for the Sharks. Donskoi took control of the puck inside the Coyotes’ zone, held off Ekman-Larsson and Kevin Connauton, and somehow found Logan Couture for a goal and what was a 3-2 Sharks lead.

But Ekman-Larsson and Josh Archibald scored in the first 6:22 of the third period to give the Coyotes the lead, continuing an ugly defensive trend for San Jose. On their five-game road trip before the break, the Sharks allowed 19 goals in regulation or OT.

That first period saw six goals on 25 shots on net as Thornton, Pavelski and Couture all scored. Goalie Martin Jones, though, was pulled at the 13:40 mark of the first after Christian Fischer got behind the Sharks defense and beat him on a breakaway to tie the score 3-3.

It was just the second time in his 2½ seasons that Jones had been pulled in the first period. The other came in Nov. 2015 when he lasted just 3:30 in a game against the New York Islanders.