DeBrusk scores late in OT, Canucks rally past Sharks

VANCOUVER -- Jake DeBrusk scored with 18 seconds left in overtime, and the Vancouver Canucks rallied to defeat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 at Rogers Arena on Monday.

DeBrusk chipped a loose puck past Alexandar Georgiev from the side of the net after a high one-timer from Brock Boeser bounced off the end boards and back out. The Canucks are 7-12 in games decided in overtime this season.

“It's been a weird year with that,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said of the overtime record. “Obviously, we have to dive into why. … I thought we managed the puck well. Obviously, (Quinn) Hughes had the puck most of the time. That helps. So, maybe that's the strategy, just give him the puck and we all watch him. But no, we’ve got to look into it for sure.”

Hughes also assisted on the overtime winner to tie Alexander Edler for the franchise record in points by a defenseman with 409. Hughes reached the mark in 432 games with the Canucks, less than half of the 925 Edler played.

Linus Karlsson tied it midway through the third period, and Nikita Tolopilo made 15 saves in his NHL debut for the Canucks (38-29-14), who have points in four straight (3-0-1).

“I just so, so glad that I get a chance. It was a long journey for me,” said Tolopilo, who signed two years ago as an undrafted free agent after playing in Sweden’s second division. “I was dreaming about that since I was kid. I watched highlights, try to watch some online games and it's far away, my hometown in Belarus is far away from here. So, you just want to play here.”

Macklin Celebrini scored, and Georgiev made 35 saves for the Sharks (20-49-12), who were coming off a 5-2 loss at the Calgary Flames on Sunday and are winless in their past 10 games (0-7-3).

San Jose lost four players to injury in Calgary and had to call up three players from the American Hockey League in the morning.

“I thought we competed,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “I thought we had some pretty good effort. I just think at times our brains weren't there, which I don't know if that's to be expected or not, but it's the National Hockey League, so your brains have to be on. But for us to be in the hockey game and gave ourselves another chance to win one and just came up a little short again.”

Celebrini put the Sharks ahead 1-0 on the power play at 4:20 of the second period. He circled off the right boards to the face-off dot unchecked before scoring short side with a wrist shot over Tolopilo’s glove, off the crossbar and in.

Celebrini, who is from nearby North Vancouver, grew up skating at Rogers Arena while his dad worked for the Canucks.

“I remember being a kid just skating on this ice with my brother, so that was a cool moment,” said Celebrini, who leads all NHL rookies with 25 goals this season and is second with 63 points. “Scoring in this building, I think it was just a dream as a kid to play in the NHL, and then scoring here is pretty cool.”

Sharks rookie defenseman Luca Cagnoni also grew up in the area and assisted on the goal after being one of the three players called up from the AHL and flying in from San Jose Tuesday morning.

“It's kind of funny how it works that you get two hometown guys playing and on the score sheet,” said Cagnoni, who had “20 to 25” friends and family, including his parents, in the stands to watch his first game in Vancouver. “It's not what it's all about, but it's just a cool moment for sure … kind of a dream come true.”

Georgiev was at his best during a four-minute Canucks power play midway through the first period, stopping seven shots, including point-blank chances for Boeser and Pius Suter. He also made a sprawling cross-crease save on a short-handed 2-on-0 chance for Suter and stopped Drew O'Connor on a breakaway on the same Sharks power play late in the second period.

“‘Georgie’ was amazing in the net,” Celebrini said. “He made some amazing saves, so just tough when you don't get the result.”

Karlsson tied it 1-1 at 9:03 of the third period, beating his check to the net to chip a rebound over the left pad of Georgiev from the edge of the crease.

“That's how I score in Abbotsford (of the AHL), too,” Karlsson said. “Just try to be around the net and it's always like all my goals is from that area.”

NOTES: San Jose forwards Zack Ostapchuk and Thomas Bordeleau, and defensemen Jan Rutta and Jack Thompson are all day to day after getting injured in Calgary. In addition to Cagnoni, the Sharks called up forward Danil Gushchin, and defenseman Jimmy Schuldt. … Sharks forward Cam Lund returned after missing the game in Calgary with an illness. … Canucks defenseman Kirill Kudryavtsev also made his NHL debut, becoming the sixth player to do so for Vancouver this season. He finished plus-1 with one shot on goal in 13:33 of ice time.