KANATA, Ontario _ Kevin Labanc scored in the fourth round of the shootout to lift the Sharks to an emotionally charged 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday at Canadian Tire Center.
Goalie Martin Jones had 29 saves through three periods and overtime, then stopped four shootout attempts by the Senators as the Sharks won their second straight to start their four game road trip.
With the Sharks down a goal, Chris Tierney tied the game 3-3 with 2:28 left to tie the game, taking a pass from and beating Ottawa goalie Mike Condon for his third goal of the season.
Up until Tierney's goal, it looked like the Sharks were going to be victimized by another late third-period goal, as Dion Phaneuf scored on the power play with 3:46 remaining in regulation for a 3-2 Senators lead.
The Sharks' game against the Ottawa Senators took a nasty turn late in the second period.
Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Erik Karlsson got tied up in the corner to the right of Jones. With the play already well up the ice, Vlasic appeared to swing his stick into the midsection of Karlsson before he skated to rejoin the play.
Karlsson made his way to the Senators' bench, and Kyle Turris came on the ice and went right to Vlasic. The two players dropped the gloves received fighting majors. Although not many punches were thrown, Turris received a 10-minute misconduct and a two-minute instigator penalty.
Senators forward Mike Hoffman then cross-checked Logan Couture in the back of the head and received a five-minute cross-checking major and a 10-minute misconduct 7:50 into the third period.
Couture did not return to the game, and the Sharks failed to score with the man advantage. Patrick Marleau thought he gave the Sharks the lead with 7:49 to play in the third, but after coach's challenge from the Senators, it was ruled that the Sharks were offside earlier in the sequence.
The Sharks came away empty on their first six power play tries.
Brent Burns and Turris both scored even strength goals in the second period.
The Sharks and Senators were tied 1-1 after the first period.
Joe Pavelski scored for the second time in as many games right after an Ottawa penalty expired. Stationed near the crease, Couture backhanded a pass from Joe Thornton right to Pavelski, who put it past a sprawling Condon for a 1-0 Sharks lead 5:57 into the first.
The Senators tied the game at the 7:01 mark. The Sharks lost sight of Bobby Ryan, who found a seam, took Ryan Dzingel's pass from behind the net and beat Jones with a snap shot from in close for his fourth of the season.
Jones was starting back-to-back games for the second time this season. Jones, who made 29 saves in the Sharks' 3-2 shootout win over Toronto on Tuesday, also played games on consecutive nights Nov. 29-30. In those wins over Arizona and Los Angeles, Jones stopped a combined 44 of 46 shots, as the Sharks finished November with an 8-6-1 record.
Jones entered Wednesday with a 14-10-1 record, and his 26 games are the second most for any NHL goalie, two behind Cam Talbot of Edmonton. Backup goalie Aaron Dell has made four starts this season, most recently Saturday against Carolina.
Vlasic returned to the Sharks' lineup after he missed Tuesday's game with a lower-body injury. Vlasic was scratched for the first time this season Tuesday as he was still recovering from a lower-body injury he suffered Saturday.
The Sharks were looking for an overall better effort Wednesday than they had in wins over Carolina and Toronto. They were facing an Ottawa team that hasn't played since Sunday, but is coming off back-to-back losses against Los Angeles on Saturday and Anaheim on Sunday.
"To our guys credit, we found a way to win the last two games," Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. "But we're playing with fire playing the way we've played the last two days."
