ANAHEIM, Calif. _ It's been seen so often over the years that it gets taken for granted _ Joe Pavelski burying a prime scoring opportunity set up by Joe Thornton.
Pavelski couldn't connect on such a chance Friday night, missing an open net on a shot from just outside the crease after getting a pass from Thornton early in the third period. The Anaheim Ducks took advantage of one of their own chances later in the third, and wound up with a 3-2 win over the Sharks at Honda Center.
Hampus Lindholm scored with 5:38 to go, as his shot from just outside the circle beat a screened Martin Jones as the Ducks beat the Sharks for the second straight time this season.
Kevin Labanc and Brent Burns scored for San Jose, and Jones finished with 29 saves.
Labanc tied the game with 11:20 to go in the second period, taking a centering pass from Logan Couture and beating Bernier with a shot to the short side.
The Sharks didn't come out with as much energy as the Ducks did to start the first and ran into trouble with some disjointed plays in their own end.
Rickard Rakell and Antoine Vermette scored even-strength goals in the first period as the Ducks took a 2-0 lead. Rakell got behind the Sharks' defense and scored on a rebound after Jones made an initial save on a shot by Shea Theodore at the 4:44 mark.
With 4:54 left in the first on a Ducks rush, Vermette found some space, took a pass from Theodore and buried a quick shot past Jones.
Jones responded with four more saves before the end of the first, including a pair on Anaheim's Jakob Silfverberg _ as the Sharks were on the power play _ to keep it a two-goal Anaheim lead.
That allowed Burns to help the Sharks get back into it with his 12th goal of the season, as he one-timed a pass from Patrick Marleau past Bernier just after a penalty to Rakell had expired.
The Sharks have clearly had trouble burying scoring chances in recent weeks, and coach Pete DeBoer clearly felt Friday morning that the question about his team's lackluster goal production was worn out.
The Sharks have been held to two goals or less in eight of 11 games before Friday, and 17 even-strength goals in total in that span. Of their 62 goals this season in the first 26 games, 56 percent has come from four players _ Burns (11), Couture (10), Joe Pavelski (eight) and Marleau (six).
"We're not scoring, we're creating chances and I've said this endlessly," DeBoer said. "We've just won six of our previous eight games against very good teams. This isn't something that we need to talk about every day. If we're losing six of eight because we're not scoring goals, then we'll make it a daily story.
"But it's not a story. We're winning games. We're finding ways to win. We're creating enough chances and the goals are going to be there."
Couture had been red-hot with seven goals in 10 games before Friday, but other top nine forwards like Joonas Donskoi, Joel Ward, Mikkel Boedker and even Joe Thornton have struggled to put the puck in the net.
Thornton has 14 assists but no goals, his longest such stretch to start a season since his rookie year in 1997-98, when he went the first 21 games before he scored his first NHL goal.
Thornton came into the game with the Ducks with 978 assists and 1,357 points in 1,393 games.
"If you look at Joe's career, every coach that he's ever played for would like him to shoot more," DeBoer said. "If you say that to him, it's probably the millionth time he's heard that. He knows his game and for me, he does so many things well for us that we're not piling that he needs to score more.
"He's got to play his game and the offense will come. He stirs our offensive drink, so to speak, and he does it well. I'm not worried about the fact that he doesn't have a goal."
Bernier's start Friday was his second straight against the Sharks after he made 21 saves in Anaheim's win in San Jose last month. Bernier, though, was rocked for eight goals on 25 shots in his last appearance Sunday against Calgary.
"Usually good pros bounce back with great efforts after games like that," DeBoer said. "That's what I'm expecting."
_Defenseman David Schlemko missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury as Dylan DeMelo will stay in the lineup. Schlemko said Thursday that he feels he should be ready to play by next week, at the latest, when the Sharks start a four-game road trip.
_Forward Matt Nieto was a scratch for the fifth straight game.
