Logan Couture struck 38 seconds into overtime, propelling the San Jose Sharks to a 3-2 comeback victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night, snapping a five-game losing streak.
Rookie Mario Ferraro and Marcus Sorensen scored in regulation for the Sharks, while Martin Jones recorded 22 saves.
Travis Zajac and Nikita Gusev each netted a goal for the Devils, aiming for a season-high fourth consecutive win but squandered a 2-0 lead in the second period. Cory Schneider made 27 saves.
Couture secured the game-winner off a feed from Evander Kane, who found the Sharks’ captain wide open on the left side of the net for his 15th goal of the season.
“(Brent Burns) made a great play taking it around the net and finding me in the slot,” Couture said, referring to a chance that led to his game-winner. “I didn’t make a great shot on it, but Kaner battled hard with two guys in front and gave me a wide-open look at the cage. Good play by those two guys.”
Couture was playing in his first home game and just his second game overall since missing seven weeks with a broken bone in his left ankle.
“It’s great to have him back,” Sharks interim coach Bob Boughner said. “We missed him when he was gone. Tonight, he was obviously a lot better than the first game. We knew it was going to take time with the injury he had. I could see his pace returning tonight, and he was more confident with the puck. Those are the guys who will step up in situations. You saw Logan play many minutes for a guy just coming back. He leads by example.”
Zajac opened the scoring midway through the first period with his seventh goal, credited after Marc-Edouard Vlasic accidentally swept the puck into his net while attempting to clear it.
The Devils doubled their lead less than five minutes later when Gusev capitalized on a Sharks turnover. He intercepted the puck from defenseman Jacob Middleton deep in the Sharks’ zone and scored on a breakaway.
San Jose responded early in the second period when Ferraro scored his second goal of the season with a wrist shot from the blue line.
Sorensen tied the game with a short-handed goal—his seventh—at 15:58 of the second period.
“We wanted to play a certain way, and we had success for 20 (minutes), and then for some reason, we take that lead 2-0, and you think maybe it’s going to be easy, but obviously, in this league, there’s nothing easy,” Devils interim coach Alain Nasreddine said. “They came out (in the second period), they played their game style, and we just never responded. We never got back to our game.”
Nasreddine added, “That’s a team we knew plays north-south, and for us, the minute we started going east-west and trying to get a little cute and trying to make plays in traffic, they went the other way, and they made us defend for 40 minutes.”
Game Notes:
- The Devils had won five of their previous seven and earned a point in 11 of their previous 14 games, going 8-3-3 over that stretch.
- Schneider made consecutive starts for the first time since Oct. 12 and 14.
- The Sharks recalled F Lean Bergmann from the San Jose Barracuda, their AHL affiliate.
- Sharks C Antti Suomela was placed on injured reserve.
- Sharks D Dalton Prout (concussion) is day-to-day.
- Rookie Noah Gregor recorded his first NHL assist on Ferraro’s goal.
UP NEXT:
- Devils: At Los Angeles on Saturday.
- Sharks: Host Pittsburgh on Saturday.
