ANAHEIM, Calif. _ Coach Pete DeBoer has said on more than one occasion in recent days that the Sharks were going to need everybody to contribute as they plow through one of their busiest stretches of season.
That couldn't have been any more evident than it was Sunday night.
The Sharks got goals from five players and another steady effort from goalie Aaron Dell to earn a 6-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center, a rare laugher over their Orange County rivals.
Mikkel Boedker had two goals and an assist and Joe Thornton and Marc-Edouard Vlasic each had a goal and an assist as the Sharks improved to 5-1 in a stretch that has seen them play six times in nine days. Dell made 34 saves.
Kevin Labanc and Melker Karlsson also scored for the Sharks, who moved three points up on Calgary for second place in the Pacific Division.
The Ducks had cut a three-goal deficit down to 3-2 as Ryan Getzlaf scored 1:47 into the third period. Thornton, though, responded just a minute later.
With the Sharks on their fifth power play, Thornton took a pass from Brent Burns and beat Ducks goalie John Gibson with a wrist shot from inside the circle for his 13th of the season.
Boedker and Karlsson also had third period goals, as the Sharks beat the Ducks by more than one goal for the first time since Oct. 10, 2015 _ a 2-0 San Jose win.
Since the start of the 2015-16 season, all 11 games between the Sharks and Ducks has been decided by two goals or less. The last 10 have been decided by one goal, with four going to a shootout or overtime.
For Boedker, it was his third and fourth goal in five games. Labanc's goal was his first in a month.
Boedker's first goal, at the 13:56 mark of the second period, was the 100th of his NHL career and gave the Sharks a 3-0 lead.
Anaheim's Rickard Rakell scored with 27 seconds to go in the second period as the Ducks were enjoying a two-man advantage.
Vlasic opened the scoring at the 13:53 mark of the first period.
After he carried the puck across the Ducks' blue line, he found Tomas Hertl with a short pass through the legs of Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin then skated toward the net. Hertl returned puck with a backhand pass, and Vlasic skated toward the net, goalie John Gibson with a low shot to the glove side for his seventh goal of the season.
Otherwise, the first period was owned by Dell.
Dell stopped a Rakell breakaway 71 seconds into the first period, and continued to bail out the Sharks throughout the first period. A few seconds after an ugly giveaway from Jannik Hansen, Adam Henrique had a chance from in close but rang a shot off the post.
Dell made 31 of 32 saves for the Sharks in Saturday's 2-1 win over the Penguins.
