Sharks: Coyotes’ late goal upends San Jose at SAP Center
Newly acquired Taylor Hall paid instant dividends for Arizona on Tuesday night.
Hall assisted Oliver EkmanLarsson’s tiebreaking goal late in the third period to send the Coyotes to a 32 win over the Sharks at SAP Center.
Hall raced down the boards and beat Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon for a loose puck before centering to Larsson, who beat Sharks goalie Aaron Dell at 17:23 of the third period.
“That third goal was going wide and it hit off someone’s leg or knee or whatever,” Sharks interim head coach Bob Boughner said. “It was a bad break for us.”
Hall was dealt to the Coyotes from New Jersey on Monday.
“It wasn’t pretty, but they’re not always going to be masterpieces,” Hall said. “Find a way to make an impact. Find a way to win a game.”
The Coyotes also found a way to kill a finalminute 6on3 Sharks power play to ensure the victory. Two minor penalties on Arizona and with Dell pulled for another extra attacker, San Jose had a rare threeman advantage for the final 44 seconds but inexplicably didn’t manage even one shot on goal before time expired.
“You’ve got to get three or four good looks and we didn’t,” Boughner said. “I think that was the difference.”
San Jose is 1for38 on the power play over its past 15 games.
“It’s something we have to look at,” Boughner said. “It’s a problem and we’ve got to fix it.”
Defenseman Erik Karlsson added: “Being the players we are, in moments like that, we need to make so more reads and make some decisions out there to create something for each other during a critical moment of the game.”
Much like the opening period, Tomas Hertl scored late in the second period to tie the game.
Hertl took a headman pass from Brent Burns, set up in the right circle and looked as if he would wait to pass. Instead he wristed his 14th goal of the season to the upper far corner, appearing to catch goalie Darcy Kuemper by surprise, at 13:55 for a 22 tie.
Burns snapped an 11game points drought with the only assist.
The Coyotes took a 21 lead at 9:11 of the middle period on a bangbang play.
Forward Lawson Crouse raced to the right boards deep in the San Jose end to zip a backhand pass to the crease where Derek Stepan tipped past Dell with rookie forward Dylan Gambrell a step behind.
The Sharks tied the game late in the first period on a great pass and a great shot.
Karlsson made a perfect long backhand pass through the neutral zone to spring Hertl across the Arizona blue line alone on the right boards. From there, Hertl let go with a forehand that picked the top far corner at 17:26 for a 11 tie.
“I’d rather have zero goals and a win than two goals because it’s tough right now,” Hertl said. “We’re far away from the playoffs, and we need every win right now.”