Marleau nets 2 again as Sharks beat Coyotes 5-3

Patrick Marleau scored the tiebreaking goal with 1:53 remaining for his third straight two-goal game, helping the Sharks rally from a two-goal deficit to beat the Phoenix Coyotes 5-3 in their home opener Thursday night.

Joe Thornton added three assists — getting one on each of Marleau's scores — and an empty-net goal as San Jose's two biggest stars appear in midseason form already. Marleau has six goals and two assists and Thornton has one goal and eight assists as the Sharks have opened the season with three straight wins for the first time since 2008-09.

"They're clicking," McLellan said. "They had big nights tonight. Teams are going to count on their big guys to get the job done. Ours are producing right now."

Logan Couture and Marty Havlat also scored for San Jose. Antti Niemi made 32 saves.

Steve Sullivan, Antoine Vermette and Lauri Korpikoski scored for the Coyotes, unable to hold onto a 3-1 lead in the third period on the back end of a back-to-back.

"It's a shame because we played so well for most of the game," coach Dave Tippett said. "In the third period we make a couple of errors and it cost us. It's hard to stomach. We have no time for learning. We need people to get in there and get the job done. We need to finish and we'll have to find people who can do that. That's a point wasted for sure."

Marleau started San Jose's comeback with a goal midway through the third and then beat Jason LaBarbera for the game-winner. Thornton started the play with a sharp up-ice pass to Joe Pavelski, who fed Marleau for the wrist shot.

"Joe made a great play coming back," Marleau said. "He picked up a loose puck, and I kind of just took off, and he found Pav, and Pav was able to slide it over to me. I just tried to get it away as quick as possible."

The Coyotes seemed to take control with two goals in a span of 2:27 of the third to take a 3-1 lead. The outburst started when Sullivan came out of the penalty box to start a 15-second power play that Phoenix capitalized on. Sullivan's shot was blocked but Vermette knocked the rebound past Niemi, who was off-balance after Shane Doan was knocked into him by a Sharks defender.

While Niemi had little chance to stop that shot, he did a poor job on Phoenix's next goal when Korpikoski beat him to the short side from a bad angle to give the Coyotes a two-goal edge.