LOS ANGELES – Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton and Brent Burns all had three points, including two power play scores from Pavelski, as the Sharks closed out their road trip with a 5-3, come-from-behind win over rival Los Angeles on Tuesday at Staples Center.
The Sharks trailed 3-1 at one point in the second period and 3-2 after two, but a pair of power play markers in the final frame – both by the captain – gave them their first lead.
First, Pavelski redirected a low Burns saucer through Jonathan Quick at 6:06 to knot it at 3-3. Thornton started the play with an offensive zone faceoff win immediately after Christian Ehrhoff went to the box for high sticking Chris Tierney.
Burns drew a slashing minor on Milan Lucic at 6:41, putting San Jose right back on the power play. Again it was Pavelski, who had all kinds of time in the slot to fire the puck into the twine after a nifty setup by Thornton.
Pavelski finished with two goals and one assist while Thorton tallied one goal and two assists, and both increased their point streaks to five games. Pavelski, the Sharks’ leading scorer with 36 points, has six goals and 11 points in his last seven games.
Burns had two goals and one assist, including an empty net marker from his own zone at 18:50 of the third that capped the scoring.
The Sharks wrapped up their five-game road trip with a 3-1-1 mark, and are 13-6-2 on the road overall. They play 11 of their next 14 games at home after the Christmas break.
San Jose (17-15-2, 36 points) retained second place in the Pacific Division, moving to within six points of the first place Kings (20-11-2, 42 points).
With the Sharks trailing 2-1 in the second period, Burns was involved in a pair of plays – one good, and one not so good – that resulted in goals for either side.
The not so good came first, as the defenseman went on one of his patented offensive zone excursions before losing the puck to Tyler Toffoli. It was skated ahead by the Kings, and Burns didn’t get back in time to prevent Toffoli from pushing across a pass from Tanner Pearson at 17:48 to give Los Angeles a two goal lead it would eventually surrender.
The Wookie redeemed himself with his 13th goal, though, less than a minute later. After Joonas Donskoi hunted down a puck on the end wall, Thornton slid it back to Burns at the point, and the defenseman’s wrist shot beat Jonathan Quick at 18:45. It was Burns’ 13th goal, leading all NHL defensemen.
The Kings were dominant in the first period, scoring two goals on 21 shots. They took the lead 1:40 into the game when Toffoli flipped an offensive zone faceoff win by Jeff Carter through Justin Braun and Martin Jones.
Another faceoff win resulted in a Trevor Lewis goal, when the forward got in front of the net and had position on Marc-Edouard Vlasic before getting piece of a fluttering puck from the stick of Dustin Brown at 4:32.
The Sharks got one back before the break, when Brenden Dillon’s attempt was deflected first by Pavelski and then Thornton’s blade at 12:12, as the Sharks were fortunate to be down by just one goal after the opening frame.
Los Angeles was playing its only home game in an 11-game stretch. The Kings had just finished a six-game road trip in which they went 3-2-1, capped off by a 5-0 loss in Toronto on Saturday.
The Sharks and Kings meet twice more, both in San Jose, on Jan. 24 and March 28.
Special teams
After two wildly ineffective advantages in the second period, the Sharks cashed in twice in the third period and finished 2-for-4. San Jose is 6-for-14 with a man advantage over its last four games.
Los Angeles was 0-for-3 against the Sharks dominant penalty killers. San Jose is 54-for-60 on the PK over the last 21 games (90 percent).
In goal
Jones improved to 2-1 against his former team, with both wins at Staples Center. He made 33 saves in moving to 15-10-2 on the year.
Quick took the loss, falling to 14-8-5 in his career in the regular season against San Jose. He allowed four goals on 21 shots.
Lineup
Melker Karlsson returned to the lineup after missing Sunday’s game with the flu. Matt Tennyson, who dressed against the Blackhawks but didn’t skate a single shift, came out of the lineup.
Joel Ward missed his second straight game, but said on Tuesday morning that his upper body injury is not expected to be long term.
Up next
The Sharks will have four days off for Christmas, and resume practice on Dec. 27. They host the Avalanche on Dec. 28.
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