Seth Jones scored his second goal of the game 18 seconds into overtime, and the Chicago Blackhawks rebounded from a four-goal deficit to top the San Jose Sharks 5-4 on Saturday at the SAP Center.
Jones beat Devin Cooley from the the slot after taking a cross-ice feed from Philipp Kurashev and closing in. Chicago came back to win from four goals down for the first time since October 2009.
Jones has scored all of his six goals since January 19.
The Blackhawks got rolling after a horrific start to sweep the season series from the dead-last Sharks 3-0. San Jose has dropped seven straight.
Kurashev stuffed in his 15th goal of the season from the side of the net with 47 seconds left in regulation to tie it at 4. He was set up by Ryan Donato, who had a goal and two assists in an energized performance.
The Blackhawks came out flat again and spotted the Sharks a 4-0 lead by just 1:24 into the second period when Fabian Zetterlund whipped in his second goal of the game and 20th of the season.
Donato and Tyler Johnson each had a goal and assist late in the second. Jones added a power-play goal at 6:20 of the third to cut it to 4-3.
Thomas Bordeleau, the great nephew of former Blackhawks forward J.P. Bordeleau, scored twice in the first period for the Sharks.
San Jose goalie Devin Cooley stopped 26 shots, but failed to earn his first NHL win in his hometown debut. The 26-year-old Cooley is from Los Gatos, California, about 10 miles from the SAP Center.
Petr Mrazek made 26 saves, including some tough ones late in the game.
Connor Bedard had an assist to boost his NHL-best rookie point total to 55 in 57 games. The 18-year-old had six shots on goal and fired one wide.
Chicago improved to 20-46-5 and 45 points. Dead-last San Jose inched to 16-46-8 and 40 points in the battle of the bottom of the NHL — and the tussle for the best odds at winning the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery.
The Sharks have just one win in their last 17 (1-13-3).
Game Flow
San Jose, dominated the first period and took a 2-0 lead on Bordeleau's goals. Zetterlund added his 19th and 20th in the opening 1:24 of the second.
He rifled in his first from the slot with Alex Vlasic screening Petr Mrazek. The second was on a give-and-go down load on a power-play, nine seconds after MacKenzie Entwistle was penalized for a hit to the head of Henry Thrun.
Richardson Saw Enough
With completely reshuffled lines – and after coach Luke Richardson lit into this players – the Blackhawks regained a little momentum.
"We had a little talk on the bench, obviously not happy," Richardson said. "I like to keep calm and get the message across, but tonight was a circumstance where they needed a little bit less calm."
And Donato, who got the Chicago's post-game team award, led the way.
"He's a guy who's an energy guy. He doesn't really care what the situation is," Richardson said. "He's just going to go out and give you his all." See video.
Donato swatted in a rebound from the edge of the crease at 6:45 to cut it to 4-1. From behind the net, Donato set up Johnson's goal from the left circle at 13:20 on a delayed penalty call.
Donato said Richardson was pretty blunt about calling out the team for a lousy start. "It was a little scary," the forward said. See video.
Jones closed it to 4-3 at 6:20 of the third with a screened power-play goal, Nick Foligno was parked in front of Cooley.
Another Battle At The Bottom
Chicago needs six wins and 14 points in its last 11 games to match its 2022-23 victory and points totals. It limped in at 26-49-7 and 59 points last April.
Only four Blackhawks teams in the franchise's 98-year history have finished with a lower points percentage than the .307 Chicago had entering the game. The 1951-52 edition was the most recent.
The biggest thing at stake in this one is positioning for the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery. The team that finishes 32nd in the 32-team NHL will have 25.5% odds of winning the lottery and a shot at top prospect Macklin Celebrini of Boston University. The 31st-place team will have a 13.5% chance.
Celebrini had a goal in BU's 6-2 loss to Boston College in the Hockey East Tournament finals on Saturday to up his freshman season totals to 31 goals and 58 points in 35 games. The Terriers (26-9-2) and Celebrini will advance to the NCAA Tournament despite falling to the arch-rival Eagles (31-5-1) before 17,850 the TD Garden.
Chicago finished 30th last season and with 11.5% odds, but won the lottery and drafted Bedard with the first pick. He leads rookie with 21 goals and 54 points in 56 games.
Bedard offered Celebrini some advice earlier in the day. See the story in the link.