RECAP: Evander Kane pushes San Jose Sharks past Blues in OT

Mar 8, 2021; San Jose, California, USA; St. Louis Blues left wing Kyle Clifford (13) and San Jose Sharks right wing Kurtis Gabriel (29) fight during the first period at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

Mar 8, 2021; San Jose, California, USA; St. Louis Blues left wing Kyle Clifford (13) and San Jose Sharks right wing Kurtis Gabriel (29) fight during the first period at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

Evander Kane scored off an Erik Karlsson assist 41 seconds into overtime to lift the San Jose Sharks past the visiting St. Louis Blues 3-2 on Monday night.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Logan Couture also registered goals for San Jose, and Devan Dubnyk made 24 saves in the win. Ryan Donato registered primary assists on both of the Sharks’ regulation goals.

St. Louis defenseman Niko Mikkola tallied his first NHL goal and Brayden Schenn also scored for St. Louis. Blues goaltender Ville Husso tallied 17 saves.

San Jose improved to 2-4-1 in the past seven games. St. Louis extended its point streak to six games (4-0-2).

The game opened up with San Jose’s Kurtis Gabriel and St. Louis’ Kyle Clifford dropping the gloves and exchanging punches. Both players were handed five-minute fighting majors just 2:35 into the contest.

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Mikkola opened up scoring 4:16 into the first frame with a sniper shot that eluded Dubnyk’s glove, giving his team the early 1-0 lead. His only previous point in 20 NHL games, including 15 this season, was an assist on Jan. 9, 2020.

The Blues were then successful in hemming the Sharks in their own zone for long stretches of the first frame and held onto the one-goal lead heading into the first intermission.

While St. Louis maintained momentum at the start of the second period, Vlasic eventually evened up the score at the seven-minute mark.

Later in the frame, the Sharks ran into penalty trouble, and with Kevin Labanc in the penalty box for a second straight minor, Schenn deflected a David Perron one-timer as it zipped past Dubnyk to make the score 2-1 with 54 seconds remaining in the second.

The Sharks didn’t get any opportunities on the power play until the third period. On their second man advantage, with Jordan Kyrou in the box for tripping Kane, Couture knocked in a power-play goal to make it 2-2.

Dubnyk and Husso exchanged big saves late in the period to push the game into overtime.

–Field Level Media

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