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Burns, Wild topple Sharks in overtime

Jan 1, 2009 - 2:51 AM By Brian Hall PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- The Minnesota Wild reversed a few troubling trends in a surprising way.

Defenseman Brent Burns scored 98 seconds into overtime as the struggling Wild recorded a 3-2 triumph over the NHL-leading San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.

Minnesota also received power-play tallies from recently called up Krystofer Kolanos and Owen Nolan, who was playing his first game since December 5.

Burns notched two assists and Niklas Backstrom finished with 31 saves for the Wild, who had lost two in a row and were 2-8-1 since December 5.

"This has to be our best game, probably the whole year," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "I would have to say that. We played against a team, a team that is really dangerous offensively, you can tell. They are capable of making plays through people.

"So, we skated well. I thought we skated with them. It's a physical team and we looked good in that aspect."

Devin Setoguchi scored his 18th of the season and Milan Michalek notched the game-tying tally with 26 seconds remaining in the third period. Joe Thornton had two assists for the Sharks, who have lost just once in regulation since November 9.

Evgeni Nabokov turned aside 28 shots for San Jose, which fell to 3-0-2 in its last five games.

"The fact that we were able to come back was satisfying, but I was very unimpressed with our first period," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said.

"The emotional attachment to the game, we talked about that earlier in the year. The ability for us to go out and kind of swing the momentum didn't exist one bit."

After Michalek forced overtime with his ninth goal of the season on a scramble in front of Backstrom, Burns put the game away in the extra session with a wrist shot which beat Nabokov high to the left side. Mikko Koivu controlled the puck along the boards and sent the cross-ice pass to Burns who had crept in from the blueline.

"I just shot it and I didn't look," Burns said. "I tried not to miss."

Nolan opened the scoring with his sixth of the season on the Wild's first power-play opportunity. Burns sent a shot in from the point that the veteran Nolan got a stick on to tip past Nabokov's left side.

It was just the third first-period goal for the Wild in their past 13 games. It was the first time Minnesota had notched the game's first goal in 12 contests.

"You can tell that we played better after the first goal," Lemaire said. "We controlled the puck much better."

Setoguchi returned to the lineup after a one-game absence and tallied his 18th of the season in the first. Controlling the puck, Setoguchi skated around the Minnesota net, came out on the other side and snapped off a shot that found its way between Backstrom's skate and the right post.

"You never just want to get one point," Setoguchi said. "You always want to go for the win. We gave them too many opportunities. It's a tough game. We knew they were going to be ready to play.

"It's their building, so we got one point out of it. But, we never want to say we are just satisfied with just one. But, I guess you can say we are kind of fortunate to get one late in the game."

The Wild, who were booed off the ice their last time out at home, got another power-play goal from Kolanos at 14:14 of the third when he circled around the faceoff circle and unleashed a shot that beat Nabokov.

The shot appeared to go in, and the goal light was turned on, but the referees allowed play to continue.

After the Wild thought they had another power-play goal from James Sheppard during the same man-advantage, referees looked at the replays and awarded Kolanos the first goal.

"I think we were in a frustrating situation for a while now," Nolan said. "We realize we have to get the boat turned around and we went for it. We tried not to give them too much in overtime, but we made great plays and we scored the goal."