SAN JOSE – Three goals in less than three minutes of the third period sparked the visiting Philadelphia Flyers past the San Jose Sharks 5-2 Monday night.
Wasting a two-goal outburst in the first period by Matt Nieto, the Sharks continue this week’s homestand with a showdown Wednesday against the Dallas Stars.
The Sharks dropped to 20-4-3 in home games this season. Philadelphia owns a 14-13-5 road record.
San Jose had won the past nine games against the Flyers and were 11-0-2 in the series entering play Monday. The last Flyers’ win in San Jose was on Nov. 5, 1999, 3-1.
Two days after leading the Sharks past the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 in a shootout, Antti Niemi was pulled from Monday’s game after Claude Giroux whipped a shot from the left dot at 3:56 of the third period for a 4-2 Flyer cushion. The Sharks brought a 2-1 lead into the third period, but Matt Read found the back of the net with a shot from the right flank at 1:11 for the tie. Michael Raffi was in the slot at 2:29 to stuff home a rebound of an Erik Gustafsson shot from the left point for a 3-2 Flyer edge.
Alex Stalock tended goal the final 12:04, allowing a goal by Jakub Voracek at the 17:44 mark.
“No doubt, they were the better team in the second period,” San Jose coach Todd McLellan said of the Flyers resurgence. “We were playing with fire (in the third) and we got burnt. When you get outworked, you’re going to lose.”
Philadelphia opened the scoring 4:23 into play when Mark Streit whipped a low shot from the top of the slot under Niemi’s pads on a Flyer power play.
Nieto, the rookie winger in his 45th game in the NHL, gave San Jose a 2-1 lead. Defenseman Matt Irwin ignited the first San Jose scoring play by drilling the puck from inside Sharks blueline to the endboards. Tommy Wingels garnered the puck and found Nieto in the low slot for the shot past goaltender Steve Mason at 7:33.
Almost five minutes elapsed before Nieto gave San Jose a 2-1 margin. Brent Burns was able to keep control of the puck in the right corner of the Flyer zone before dishing to Nieto at the edge of the crease for the stuff shot inside the left post at 12:32.
The Sharks and Flyers will have a rematch in Philadelphia on Feb. 27, the day the 19-day hiatus for the Olympics ends for San Jose.
