{coyotes} Sharks defeat Coyotes to continue playoff push

ESPN Fantasy Baseball / Yahoo Fantasy Baseball

SAN JOSE -- The San Jose Sharks kept alive their hopes of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 11th straight season by defeating the Arizona Coyotes 3-1 at SAP Center on Friday.

The Sharks (39-30-9) have 87 points and are within three of the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card from the Western Conference. They're four points behind the third-place Calgary Flames in the Pacific Division.

San Jose, which has four games remaining, won for the fourth time in five games. The Sharks and Coyotes finish the home-and-home set Saturday at Gila River Arena.

The Coyotes (23-47-8) lost for the ninth time in 11 games. They have 54 points, fewer than every other NHL team except the Buffalo Sabres, who have 52.

Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski and Matt Nieto scored for the Sharks, and Antti Niemi made 20 saves.

Mark Arcobello had the lone goal for Arizona, and backup goaltender Louis Domingue made 34 saves.

The Sharks outshot Arizona 37-21, but they owned a slim 2-1 lead late in the third period before Nieto hammered a rebound past Domingue with 5:50 left in regulation. Domingue stopped Chris Tierney's shot from the left circle but couldn't control the puck, and Nieto scored his ninth goal of the season.

The Sharks outshot Arizona 16-3 in the first period and built a 2-0 lead on early goals by Couture and Pavelski.

Couture scored 58 seconds into the game on a rush, snapping a shot from the right circle over Domingue's glove and into the upper left corner. Tomas Hertl sent a cross-ice pass to Couture, who controlled the puck with his left skate and quickly fired, scoring his 27th goal of the season.

Pavelski made it 2-0 at 5:00 with his team-high 37th goal, which came just seconds after San Jose's first power play expired. Patrick Marleau threaded a pass from below the goal line to Pavelski, who scored on a slap shot from the low slot

Arizona's David Moss put the puck past Niemi at 5:50 of the first period, but the goal was immediately waived off by the referees. A video review confirmed that Moss directed the puck over the goal line with his left hand.

Arizona cut San Jose's lead to 2-1 at 2:34 of the second period when Arcobello scored his 16th goal of the season. On a 2-on-1 rush, Arcobello sent a cross-ice pass from the right circle toward Tobias Rieder, who was a step behind Sharks defenseman Brent Burns. Burns reached out and got his stick on the puck, but he deflected it past Niemi.

The Coyotes nearly pulled even with under a minute left in the second period when Shane Doan fired a sharp-angled shot from the left of the crease. Niemi deflected the puck into the air and snagged it with his glove.

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