Sharks erase 2-0 deficit to handle Bruins, 7-4

SAN JOSE – At least for one night at SAP Center, it’s not how you start but how you finish was the motto of the San Jose Sharks.

Boston scored two early goals before the Sharks regrouped for four goals in the second period and a decisive 3-0 scoring margin in the third to outlast the Bruins 7-4 for their third straight victory.

The Sharks play twice in Canada this weekend (Calgary and Edmonton) before starting a five-game homestand Tuesday against the Oilers.

San Jose reached a season-high with seven goals, including two apiece from Tyler Kennedy, Joe Pavelski and Tommy Wingels.

Kennedy was positioned in front of the Boston crease when Matt Irwin, coming onto the ice on a line change, powered a low shot that Kennedy nudged into the net for a 5-4 lead 3:02 into the third period.

The teams were skating four aside midway into the third period when Brent Burns found Pavelski with a pass from the neutral zone. Pavelski’s power move to the net resulted in a shot that clanged off the leg of Boston’s Milan Lucic and into the net at 11:13 for his team-high 12^th goal of the year. Brenden Dillon recorded his first point as a Shark with the secondary assist.

Pavelski added an assist when his long shot from the blueline bounded of the endboards and to a waiting Tomas Hertl for the wraparound to complete the scoring.

San Jose struck for four goals in the second period, an accomplishment that would typically highlight an easy victory but in this instance merely kept the Sharks even.

Boston raced to a 2-0 lead in the game’s first 2:35. After the Bruins were called for icing 19 seconds into action, the visitors won the face-off and needed 10 seconds to earn a 1-0 cushion. Patrice Bergeron carried the puck across the slot before leaving a short pass to a trailing Reilly Smith for the point-blank goal. The margin moved to two at 2:35 when Daniel Paille’s spin move across the slot led to a drop pass to Gregory Campbell behind the Shark defense for the five-footer past goaltender Antti Niemi.

The Sharks used a 24-7 advantage in shots on net in the second period to go into the second intermission tied at 4-4.

Taking a clue from the Bruins’ early period explosion in the first period, San Jose scored twice in the first two minutes of the second period.

The Sharks won the center-ice face-off and needed 27 seconds to post their first goal of the night. Patrick Marleau sped behind the Boston net to keep the offensive play alive. Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s shot from the blueline was tipped by Wingels in the low slot past goaltender Tuukka Rusk.

San Jose added a goal at the three-minute mark when James Sheppard’s flick near the right endline careened off the skate of Kennedy and over Rask’s shoulder.

The Sharks gained a 3-2 lead at 7:30 when Wingels, at the inside edge of the right circle, redirected a Matt Irwin shot from the blueline into the net on a power play.

Boston responded 43 seconds later with the equalizer, Smith’s second goal of the night off a feed from Carl Soderberg.

Bruin Torey Krug’s long shot through traffic at the 12:33 mark left the Sharks down 4-3. San Jose needed less than one minute to make it 4-4 as Pavelski’s stuff shot slid under Rask on a power play at 14:21.