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Marc-Edouard Vlasic held the puck in his hand as on-ice officials and the NHL’s Situation Room tried to determine whether the goal he thought he had scored came as a result of a distinct kicking motion.
Right after the league said the puck was deflected in by Vlasic’s skate, and not illegally kicked in, the longtime Sharks defenseman simply flipped the puck to a member of the team’s training staff as a keepsake.
The goal by Vlasic, who was playing in his 1,200th NHL game, was the second of a three-goal outburst by the Sharks in the second period, as they overcame a two-goal deficit to earn a 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday at United Center.
Vlasic’s goal, his first of the season, tied the game 2-2 at the 15:53 mark of the second period. Alexander Barabanov then gave the Sharks the lead for good as he scored his sixth of the season with 1:26 to go before intermission.
“I knew I didn’t kick it in, so if I didn’t kick it in, then it should have been a good goal,” Vlasic said. “At that point, it’s up to the league to make a decision.”
Jonah Gadjovich began the scoring spree in the second period as the Sharks turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead in a span of 3:22.
Timo Meier and Evgeny Svechnikov also scored as the Sharks ended a three-game losing streak and captured their second win in the last eight games.
“I just loved our perseverance, our mental toughness, and how we responded,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “When you’re going through what we’ve been going through, it’s not easy to get down 2-0. Human nature can kick in, but I loved the way we battled back.”
Erik Karlsson assisted on the Gadjovich and Barabanov goals to extend his point streak to 13 games, setting a new franchise record. Karlsson also has assists in 13 straight games, another team record, and has 21 total points in that span.
Oskar Lindblom and Logan Couture also had two assists for the Sharks (12-20-7), who next play on Friday in Anaheim.
Kaapo Kahkonen finished with 20 saves as he earned his first win since Nov. 29 and improved his record this season to 4-7-3.
Patrick Kane and Sam Lafferty scored second-period goals for the Blackhawks, the NHL’s worst team with just 20 points and an 8-24-4 record.
Vlasic, the Sharks’ second-round pick in 2005, is now in his 17th season with the team. He is second on the Sharks’ all-time games played list, trailing only Patrick Marleau, who played 1,607 games with San Jose over 21 years.
Vlasic, 35, is the 125th player in NHL history to play in 1,200 games and has experienced a bit of a career renaissance under Quinn.
Vlasic entered Sunday averaging 18:26 of ice time per game, a jump of over three minutes per game from last season when he was a third-pair defenseman and rarely used on the penalty kill.
“The game is just getting faster,” Vlasic said before Sunday’s game. “Doesn’t matter what age you are, if you’re fast enough, if you can keep up, or if you work hard enough, you can stay in this league and that’s what I’m trying to do. Be competitive every night. Be faster.”
SIMEK OUT: Defenseman Radim Simek was scratched from Sunday’s game with an upper-body injury he suffered the night before in the Sharks’ 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars.
Midway through the first period, Simek collided with Stars forward Mason Marchment near the Dallas blue line and immediately fell backward, landing hard on the ice. Simek immediately left the game and did not return.
Simek, who remained on the Sharks’ active roster as of Sunday, missed four games with a mild concussion in November after he was checked in the head by Minnesota’s Mason Shaw. Scott Harrington was inserted into the Sharks’ lineup in place of Simek, and Nick Cicek was recalled from the Barracuda to give the team seven healthy defensemen.
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