Sharks cough up late lead, lose another forward to injury in loss to Ducks

Frank Vatrano fired a puck past goalie Kaapo Kahkonen at the 4:07 mark of overtime to end the game.   

The San Jose Sharks coughed up a lead late in the third period, then allowed the game-winner in the final minute of overtime Wednesday in a 3-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center.

The Sharks turned the puck over inside the Anaheim zone, leading to a 2-on-1 the other way. Troy Terry then sent a saucer pass over the stick of Shakir Mukhamadullin to Frank Vatrano, who fired a puck past goalie Kaapo Kahkonen at the 4:07 mark of overtime to end the game.

Anaheim (18-30-2) tied the game with 1:01 left in regulation time. With an extra attacker on the ice, Terry collected a loose puck near the side of the San Jose net and scored his 15th of the season.

The Sharks lost 14 of 15 games between Dec. 15 and Jan. 15, but go into the NHL All-Star break with a 4-1-2 record since Jan. 16.

“The one thing you feel good about right now is how we’re playing and our compete, and not giving up a lot of goals,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “Just overall playing better hockey.”

Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored a go-ahead goal at the 17:57 mark of the second period to give him the longest goal-scoring streak of his NHL career.

Vlasic took a pass from Kyle Burroughs and fired a slapshot past Ducks goalie John Gibson, giving the Sharks a 2-1 lead and the veteran defenseman a goal in three straight games for the first time in 18 years.

Vlasic also scored Jan. 13 in a road game against the Ottawa Senators, and a week later at home against the Ducks off a pretty assist from Logan Couture. Vlasic also had goals Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres and on Tuesday against Seattle, as he scored a third-period goal that proved to be the game-winner.

Vlasic’s five goals this season are the most he’s scored in any year since 2019-2020 when he had five goals and 15 points in 70 games.

Anthony Duclair also scored a first-period power-play goal, assisted by Mukhamadullin for his first NHL point, and Kahkonen made 31 saves.

“I thought we were the better team for a lot of the game, but the third period they kind of took over and they had a lot of looks,” Sharks captain Logan Couture said. “We looked tired at the end there.”

Sharks winger Alexander Barabanov left the game with an undisclosed ailment just past the midway point of the second period and did not return. Quinn did not have an update on Barabanov after the game, but said that he didn’t think the injury was “too serious.”

The Sharks (14-32-5) do not play again until Feb. 14 when they face the Jets in Winnipeg. NHL All-Star weekend begins Thursday in Toronto, with Tomas Hertl representing the Sharks, who are slated to resume practice on Feb. 10.

Hertl has a lower-body injury and is considered day-to-day, but was still scheduled to be a part of the three-day event.

Before this nine-game span for Vlasic, which began right after he was a healthy scratch for two straight games, the most goals he had in a nine-game stretch was four, during the 2017-18 season.

Since Dec. 1, the Sharks have received 18 goals from their defensemen, the third-highest total in the NHL.

The Sharks and Ducks were tied 1-1 after 20 minutes as Mukhamadullin picked up his first NHL point.

San Jose fell behind at the 2:12 mark.

Nikita Okhotiuk, pressured by Mason McTavish, coughed up the puck behind the goal line to the left of the Sharks net. Jakob Silfverberg then took control, sent the puck to the front of the Sharks’ net, where Isac Lundestrom collected it, and on a second effort while surrounded by San Jose players, poked it past Kahkonen for a 1-0 Ducks lead.

The Sharks got that goal back as they snapped a 0-for-18 drought with the man advantage.

After Mukhamadullin one-timed a shot on net, Duclair grabbed the rebound and fired a shot past Ducks goalie John Gibson for his ninth goal of the season, snapping a six-game goal drought.

Mukhamadullin was playing the third NHL game of his career. In his first two games with the Sharks, Mukhamadullin, 22, had a plus-minus rating of +1, and averaged 20:45 in ice time as he was paired with veteran Jan Rutta.

“Game by game, I’m feeling more comfortable,” Mukhamadullin said.