Pavelski, Sharks rally to defeat Red Wings

DETROIT --Joe Pavelski scored a natural hat trick, and the San Jose Sharks rallied for a 5-3 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday.

Brent Burns had a goal and an assist, Logan Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic each had two assists, and Aaron Dell made 20 saves for the Sharks (37-18-8), who have won nine of their past 12 games (9-2-1) and moved within one point of the Calgary Flames for first place in the Western Conference.
"We didn't play well last night against Columbus (4-0 loss) and we didn't have a good first period tonight," Pavelski said. "That's why it was important for us to respond the way we did in the last two periods tonight."
WATCH: [All Sharks vs. Red Wings highlights | Nyquist traded to Sharks by Red Wings]
San Jose played without defenseman Erik Karlsson, who missed the game with a groin injury.
"The luxury of having two guys like [Burns] and [Karlsson] is that, when one guy goes down, the other one can grab a lot of extra minutes," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said.
Mike Green had a goal and an assist, and Jonathan Bernier made 32 saves for the Red Wings (23-31-9), who lost their fifth straight game (0-3-2).

Tim Heed, playing in place of Karlsson, gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 3:46 of the first period when his pass redirected in off the skate of Red Wings forward Michael Rasmussen. Detroit coach Jeff Blashill challenged the play for goaltender interference, but the call was upheld after a video review.
Darren Helm tied it 1-1 at 14:39, taking a cross-ice pass from Justin Abdelkader and scoring short side from the left circle.
Gustav Nyquist gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead at 19:23, knocking in the second rebound of his original shot at the top of the crease, and Green extended the lead to 3-1 at 8:00 of the second period with a one-timer off a cross-ice pass from Abdelkader on a delayed penalty.

San Jose outshot Detroit 32-8 over the final two periods, including a stretch where the Red Wings went 25:35 without a shot on goal.
"The Red Wings have a lot of speed and skill, and they were all over us in the first period," Heed said. "In the second and third periods, we tried to focus on taking away their time and space."
Blashill said, "I thought we had some opportunities in that stretch, but we weren't turning them into shots. We probably needed to shoot a little more, but we also spent way too much time just trying to get out of our end to get a change."
Burns cut it to 3-2 at 13:50, beating a screened Bernier with a wrist shot off a face-off, and Pavelski tied it 3-3 with a power-play goal at 15:50. With an assist on Pavelski's goal, Burns became the first NHL defenseman to reach 70 points in his team's first 63 games since Ray Bourque (61 games) in 1993-94.
"[Burns is] having a Norris Trophy-level season for us, and he was a huge factor tonight." DeBoer said. "His goal turned around the game and then he sets things up on the power play."
Pavelski gave San Jose a 4-3 lead at 16:45, redirecting in Vlasic's pass from a sharp angle, and completed the hat trick at 19:00 of the third period with an empty-net goal to make it 5-3.

Filip Zadina, who was selected with the No. 6 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft by Detroit, made his NHL debut. He was minus-1 and had one shot in 10:38 of ice time.
"Hopefully I'll get another chance to play in our next game and things will go better," Zadina said. "We had a great first period, but the rest wasn't as good."

They said it

"We didn't start the game well, but we talked about it after the first period and the guys went out there and fixed it. That's the reason this is such a great group to work with, they don't need to be told over and over what's wrong. They know what they need to do." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer
"I thought he was good. He wasn't great, if he had been, he probably would have gotten more than 10 minutes, but he was good. [Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson] played [10] minutes in his first game. You just want to give them a chance to get their feet wet." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill on Filip Zadina's NHL debut

Need to know

Pavelski is second in Sharks history with five hat tricks, behind Jonathan Cheechoo (nine). … Vlasic's assist on Pavelski's second goal was his 300th NHL point. … Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard (illness) missed his second straight game but is expected to practice on Monday.

What's next

Sharks:At the Boston Bruins on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; SNE, SNO, SNP, NESN, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)
Red Wings:Host the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-D, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV)