SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The San Jose Sharks had no problems creating scoring chances Wednesday night against the Ottawa Senators.
Finishing those chances was the primary issue, particularly when the Senators scored twice in the final 66 seconds to pull out a 4-2 win at SAP Center to snap the Sharks' three-game win streak.
The Sharks allowed the game winner with 1:06 left, as a bouncing puck got past defenseman Justin Braun. Forward Chris Kelly was able to get to the rolling puck and put it past Sharks goalie Martin Jones for a 3-2 Senators lead. Jean-Gabriel Pageau added an empty netter to round out the scoring.
Brent Burns tied the game 2-2 in the third period on a wrist shot through traffic.
With the Sharks trailing by a goal, Burns notched his 10th goal of the season as his shot from just above the left circle got past Senators goalie Mike Condon on the short side for his 10th of the season with 13:30 left in the third.
The Sharks had 53 shot attempts in the first two periods as captain Joe Pavelski, by himself, had four shots on goal, two others blocked and three more off target.
Pavelski took a perfect stretch pass from Brenden Dillon and went in on a breakaway against Condon. Pavelski took a stride to his right, but his shot attempt went off the post and out of harm's way.
Logan Couture scored the lone goal for the Sharks in the first two periods on the power play. His wrist shot from well inside the blue line eluded Condon as the Sharks cut Ottawa's lead to 2-1 with 11:41 to go in the second period.
The Sharks had an impressive 32 shot attempts in the first period, but couldn't beat Condon.
Pavelski was denied twice on chances from in close, including once on the power play. Joonas Donskoi had a good look with the man advantage after a Mikkel Boedker shot on goal, but his stick was lifted by the Senators' Kyle Turris just before he could get a shot away.
Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson, meanwhile, had a hand in both Senators first-period goals.
With Tommy Wingels serving a hooking penalty, a Karlsson shot was blocked by Couture. The puck went to Mike Hoffman, whose shots went off both Paul Martin and Burns before it was corralled by Mark Stone, whose backhand beat Jones for a 1-0 Ottawa lead 3:42 into the first period.
A turnover by Dylan DeMelo behind the Sharks goal led to the Senators' second goal at the 7:19 mark, as a loose puck found its way to Karlsson near the San Jose blue line. Karlsson's shot got past Jones, who was being screened by Ottawa winger Tom Pyatt.
It was the first time this season that Karlsson and Burns, the two highest scoring defensemen in the NHL, were facing each other.
Burns came into Wednesday with 22 points in 25 games, and led all NHL defensemen with 10 goals and a staggering 107 shots on net. Karlsson, a two-time Norris Trophy winner, had 24 points and 76 blocked shots in Ottawa's first 26 games.
Karlsson and Burns have been the NHL's two most prolific defensemen over the last two-plus seasons. Since the start of the 2014-15 season, Karlsson has 172 points and Burns has 157.
Couture, meanwhile, was playing with some discomfort in his right ankle after he had a procedure done Saturday to remove a screw that had been in place since he had surgery for his fractured right fibula over a year ago.
"That's what happens when you have a minor surgery," Couture said Wednesday morning. "It's not going to feel super comfortable, but it's something you have to deal with."
Couture is playing his best hockey of the season right now and his second-period goal gave him seven in his last nine games.
The Sharks were coming off a four-day break between games, as they took Saturday and Sunday off before getting back on the ice for practices Monday and Tuesday.
Wednesday's game, though, began a stretch that will see the Sharks play nine games in 17 days before the Christmas break, including five on the road.
"When you're rolling like that, sometimes you don't want to stop," Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. "The reality, though, of when you play 10 games in 18 nights, we were running on fumes toward the end. I know we're recharged mentally and physically, but we have to find that level again as quickly as possible."
_ The Sharks were without defenseman David Schlemko, who remains day-to-day with a lower body injury he suffered Friday against the Montreal Canadiens. DeMelo was inserted in his place, as he was paired with Brenden Dillon and was part of the Sharks' second power-play unit.
_ Mirco Mueller was recalled from the Barracuda on Wednesday. The Sharks' 2013 first-round draft pick has six assists in 16 AHL games this season.
