Recap: LaCombe Scores First NHL Goal in 5-3 Loss to Sharks

Jackson LaCombe scored his first career NHL goal but the Ducks could not find a late-third period equalizer tonight in a 5-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center.

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The loss, Anaheim's fourth in its last five games, dropped the club to 15-29-1 on the season and 9-13-0 on the road.

LaCombe's first NHL goal tied the game late in the second period, part of a five-minute stretch that saw five of the game's seven goals. Adam Henrique and Mason McTavish also scored. Troy Terry tallied two assists. John Gibson made 14 saves.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Kyle Burroughs, Fabian Zetterlund, Jan Rutta and Tomas Hertl scored for the Sharks, who snapped a four-game losing skid and improved to 11-31-4 on the season. Mackenzie Blackwood earned the win in net, stopping 32-of-35 Ducks shots.

San Jose appeared to take the lead late in the opening period when a pinball pass hit the referee's skate and then the side of the net before bouncing right to Filip Zadina, who swiped it through Gibson from the low slot, but the play was determined to be offside after an Anaheim challenge.

The Ducks outshot the Sharks 13-2 in the first period.

Instead the night's first goal wouldn't come until the final five minutes of the second period, when five in the final 4:57 made it 3-2 Sharks after two.

The icebreaker came immediately after a missed odd-man rush for the Ducks, as an wide rebound turned into a 2-on-1 the other way, with Vlasic tapping home the backdoor feed from captain Logan Couture.

The assist was Couture's first point of the year in his season debut after recovering from an offseason abdomen injury.

Anaheim then momentarily tied the game on the next shift on a very unique first NHL goal, a cross-ice pass from Henrique to LaCombe that Kahkonen initially seemed to stop on a slide to his right. After review though, the puck had clearly snuck between the goaltender and near-side post, giving LaCombe his first in the NHL and the Ducks a tied hockey game.

LaCombe has eight points in 41 games this season and four points in his last six appearances. The 23-year-old is the third Duck to score his first NHL goal this season, joining fellow rookies Leo Carlsson and Pavel Mintyukov.

San Jose would go back ahead on goals from Burroughs and Zetterlund two minutes apart, claiming a 3-1 edge with 28 seconds to go in the second.

The first, a backdoor pass from Hertl to Burroughs, came after a failed clear of the defensive zone. Zetterlund then scored off the rush, holding off the check of LaCombe and beating Gibson high to the short-side.

Henrique capped the wild last minutes of the period with a second-chance opportunity right outside the San Jose crease, punching home a centering pass from Terry through the unsure Kahkonen still trying to locate the puck.

With a goal and an assist on the night, Henrique now has seven points in his last seven games.

Terry has 13 points in his last 13 games and is now second among team leaders in scoring this season.

Carlsson's point was his first in three games since returning from a sprained MCL. Last summer's second-overall pick is third among NHL rookies in points per game this season (.61).

Rutta added a massive insurance goal early in the the third, one that would go on to be the game's decisive tally, with a snapshot past Gibson from right wing.

Anaheim once again got back within one late in the period on a cross-seam pass from Terry to McTavish, with the centerman quickly turning and ripping a wrister over Kahkonen's glove.

McTavish's 13 goals on the season is second among team leaders, trailing only Frank Vatrano.

That would be all for the Ducks though as despite a long shift in the Sharks zone as time trickled away, nothing would go by Kahkonen before the horn sounded.

The Ducks begin a two-game homestand Sunday night at Honda Center.