Sharks score six times in third to beat Nashville

Hockey Betting Lines

03/12/2010 - San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Pavelski registered two goals and two assists in the third period, as the San Jose Sharks scored six times over the final 20 minutes to rally past the Nashville Predators, 8-5, at HP Pavilion.

Dany Heatley added two goals and a helper, while Manny Malhotra finished with a goal and two assists for the Sharks, who have won three straight on their five-game homestand that ends Saturday against Florida.

San Jose's Patrick Marleau reached the 40-goal plateau for the first time in his career, and Joe Thornton also tallied as the Sharks moved two points ahead of Chicago in the race for the Western Conference's top seed.

Evgeni Nabokov made 40 saves to pick up the win, his 37th of the season, which matches Los Angeles' Jonathan Quick for the league lead.

Patric Hornqvist and J.P. Dumont each had two goals for Nashville, which has lost three of four but is still clinging to seventh place in the West standings.

Starting goaltender Dan Ellis was victimized for six goals on 23 shots before he was relieved by Pekka Rinne late in the third. Rinne faced only two shots and yielded the goal to Marleau.

Down 4-2 after two periods, San Jose pumped in three unanswered goals.

Heatley and Malhotra scored 1:36 apart to tie the game at 5:16, then Pavelski capitalized on a turnover deep in the Nashville zone six minutes later to put the Sharks on top. The U.S. Olympian walked out of the far corner and fired a shot past the glove of Ellis.

Dumont redirected Kevin Klein's one-timer from the point for a 5-5 stalemate at 13:26. However, Pavelski spun around and slid a backhander along the ice and through the pads of Ellis 1:14 later to restore the lead.

Marleau provided some breathing room with 2:26 remaining. Jay Leach's first NHL goal -- an empty-netter -- sealed the come-from-behind win for San Jose.

Hornqvist and Heatley traded goals in the first period before the former lit the lamp again at the 4:29 mark of the middle frame for a 2-1 Nashville lead.

Thornton swooped in and stashed a rebound on the power play less than two minutes later, but Dumont produced another goal on a deflection with the man advantage, altering the path of a Cody Franson offering through heavy traffic, to put the visitors back on top at 11:31.

A distinct kicking motion negated a tally for Nashville's Dustin Boyd with 5:56 to play, but rookie Colin Wilson made it 4-2 on a redirection moments after the officials' ruling.

Game Notes

San Jose won three of the four games in the season series...The Sharks improved to 22-6-7 at home...Dumont's second goal was the 500th point of his career...Nashville defenseman Shea Weber returned to the lineup after missing two games with an upper-body injury.

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Kurt Warner to start, Matt Leinart to watch

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.