SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Joonas Donskoi did almost everything he could Monday night _ including scoring an all-too-rare San Jose Sharks power play goal _ to help his team come away from a three-game homestand with at least something to show for their efforts.
Donskoi opened the scoring against the Anaheim Ducks with a first-period goal on a nifty individual effort, helped send the game into overtime with a power play goal at the 8:19 mark of the third period, then scored in the third round of the shootout.
In the ninth round of the shootout, though, after each team had scored three goals, Tomas Hertl missed his attempt and Antoine Vermette beat goalie Martin Jones to give the Ducks an exhausting 3-2 win.
Before Vermette's goal, Brent Burns and Tim Heed scored in the shootout for the Sharks. Corey Perry, Cam Fowler and Brandon Montour scored for Anaheim.
The Sharks outshot the Ducks 3-0 in overtime, after they had a 20-7 advantage in that category in the third period.
The Sharks allowed two second-period goals to fall behind 2-1, as Rickard Rakell scored the go-ahead goal for the Ducks at the 11:39 mark. Perry also scored in the second for the Ducks, who were coming off a 3-2 win over Florida on Sunday night.
Donskoi scored his sixth of the season and first of the game at the 3:31 mark of the first period and Jones made 21 saves through 40 minutes as the Sharks were looking to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season.
The Sharks were hoping to make some hay with a home-heavy schedule through the first six-plus weeks of the regular season, but it's been a struggle.
The Sharks entered Monday with a middling 6-6 record at SAP Center after losses to Florida and Boston last week. They went 2-3 on a season-opening five-game homestand and earned impressive wins over Toronto, Nashville and Anaheim before they were humbled 5-1 by Tampa Bay on Nov. 8.
The Sharks, who never lost three straight at SAP Center last season on the same homestand, will play only one more home game for the next two-plus weeks.
They hit the road for games at Arizona on Wednesday and Las Vegas on Friday before they host Winnipeg on Saturday. The Sharks start a four-game road trip on the East Coast on Nov. 28 against Philadelphia.
The Sharks had just seven even strength goals in their last six games but started Monday's game on a positive note with Donskoi's goal.
Brent Burns pinched and forced a pass from Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm to Dennis Rasmussen. Donskoi then poked the puck off Rasmussen's stick to Logan Couture, who collected it and passed it back to Donskoi.
Donskoi faked a move to the outside, went back to his forehand and slid the puck between Ducks goalie Reto Berra's legs for his sixth goal of the season.
Anaheim tied the game just 45 seconds into the second period. After a Ducks faceoff win, the puck came to Brandon Montour, who sent a pass through the slot to Perry, who stayed open behind Justin Braun and buried his fourth of a season before Jones could get in position.
Before Monday, Jones had allowed two goals or less in 10 of his last 11 starts after he gave up four apiece in early season losses to Philadelphia and Los Angeles.
The Sharks had two power play chances with their newly formed units but came away empty despite seven shots on goal.
In Monday's morning skate, the first unit had Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Mikkel Boedker, Kevin Labanc and Tim Heed. The second unit featured Couture, Danny O'Regan, Hertl, Donskoi and Burns.
The Sharks went 0-for-3 with the man advantage against the Bruins, but the team felt it was a little more dangerous _ with seven shots on goal _ than it had been in recent games.
The Sharks had been 0-for-17 on the power play over their last six games and prior to Monday ranked 30th in the NHL out of 31 teams with a 14.5 percent success rate.
