ANAHEIM, Calif. _ The San Jose Sharks emerged from the NHL's Christmas break Tuesday night by beating the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 in overtime.
Brent Burns scored the winning goal while Martin Jones made a season-high 34 saves as the Sharks extended their Pacific Division lead in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 17,403 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
Paul Martin and Melker Karlsson added goals as the Sharks used their sixth win in seven games to build a three-point lead over the idle Edmonton Oilers.
Burns, who led NHL defensemen with 32 points entering the game, received Joe Pavelski's pass while skating toward the goal. Burns then faked to his left and deposited the puck inside the left post at 2:46 of overtime.
Martin began the scoring 6:30 into the game by salvaging a broken scoring play. Mikkel Boedker's backhanded shot near the left post skidded through the crease and hit the blade of Logan Couture's stick before ricocheting to Martin, who fired a slap shot from the left circle underneath the crossbar.
Martin recorded his third goal of the season _ all in his past eight games _ and his second in the last three.
Anaheim's Ondrej Kase tied the score at 8:22 of the second period with a stellar move. Nick Ritchie recovered the rebound of his own shot and passed the puck behind the net to Kase, who spun around the right post and as he was falling, converted a sweeping backhand past a prone Jones and Couture.
Karlsson gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead with his fourth goal nearly six minutes later. After securing Burns' pass from the visitors' blue line, Joel Ward sent a line-drive pass from the right boards to Karlsson. The Swedish center stuck out his stick to deflect the puck, which skipped past the right leg pad of goalie John Gibson and inside the left post at 14:18.
Jakob Silfverberg tied the score a second time with 6:25 remaining in regulation. Ryan Kesler received Andrew Cogliano's drop pass and fired a wrist shot from the top of the slot that Silfverberg deflected between Jones' legs.
