SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Sharks allowed a goal to JT Miller at the 2:29 mark of overtime in a 5-4 loss to the Vancouver Canucks, but still salvaged a point in the unlikeliest of ways.
Alexander Barabanov, stationed beside the Canucks net, took a pass from Timo Meier and beat goalie Thatcher Demko with a shot to the short side to tie the game 4-4 with 0.1 seconds left in regulation time.
Before that, Vancouver took a 4-3 lead on a goal by Conor Garland scored with 5:37 left in the third period.
Meier scored two power-play goals, with his second goal coming at the 45-second mark of the third period as he took a nifty pass from Tomas Hertl and beat Demko to tie the game 3-3.
Logan Couture also scored and goalie James Reimer made 22 saves but the Sharks fell to 0-1-1 on the homestand that ends Sunday against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Couture got a fortunate deflection to score his 15th goal of the season at the 3:35 mark of the second period, as his attempted pass to Noah Gregor went off Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers’ stick and slid past Demko.
Juho Lammikko got that goal back for Vancouver at the 10:49 mark of the second.
The first period Thursday had to rank as one of the ugliest of the season for the Sharks.
San Jose managed just eight shot attempts in the first 20 minutes as Canucks goalie Demko had to make just four saves, including just one in the last 10 minutes.
The Canucks, meanwhile, took advantage of some soft play in the Sharks zone for its first two goals. Miller found Brock Boeser open with a nifty pass through the slot, and Boeser beat Reimer for his 15th goal of the season at the 14:54 mark of the opening period.
Less than three minutes later, Quinn Hughes intercepted a clearing attempt by Jacob Middleton, and fired a puck toward the net that changed direction before it skipped past Reimer. It appeared the puck was touched by Matthew Highmore before it went into the Sharks’ net.
Thursday’s game was a make-up game as the two teams were originally supposed to have their second meeting of the season on Dec. 23.
NOTE: Rudolfs Balcers was unexpectedly scratched from Thursday’s lineup. Sharks coach Bob Boughner said Thursday morning that Balcers, who blocked a shot with his upper body in the second period of Monday’s game, would be able to play. But Balcers did not take pregame warmups, and was replaced on the Sharks’ second line by Noah Gregor. Jonah Gadjovich, who was going to be a scratch Thursday, was inserted into the lineup and started on the fourth line with Lane Pederson and Jeffrey Viel.
