Losing leads in the 3rd period was the Sharks thing last season. They would turn the tables on the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night by tying the game with a late 3rd period goal, then winning it overtime on Alex Wennberg's goal and 3rd point of the night. It was a Swedish affair in the overtime when Wennberg and William Eklund steamed up ice on a 2-on-1 break. Wennberg pumped a shot on goaltender Dennis Hildeby, then Wennberg tipped home the rebound to give the Sharks an exciting 3-2 win.

Wennberg's game-winner capped a gritty comeback by the Sharks who had a goal overturned earlier in the period, and had to scratch out a goal just to get to the overtime period. The Swede assisted on San Jose's first two goals before adding his 7th and most important tally this season 2:49 into the extra frame.

The comeback was an arduous one. The game was the 4th of a 5-game road trip that ends on Saturday. The win helped San Jose square up the trip as they've now won2 and dropped 2 games.

The Sharks enjoyed a power play 1:31 into the game after Simon Benoit was called for tripping. A strong forecheck forced the penalty and the Sharks looked as if they were in control of things, but a good penalty kill seemed to shift the momentum away from San Jose.

Ty Dellandrea gave the Sharks a prime chance to score when he drew a penalty shot after Morgan Reilly hooked him on a breakaway chance at 11:46. The Sharks forward took an angle off the left wing boards then tried lifting the puck, but he ended up putting it right in Maple Leafs goaltender Dennis Hildeby's glove.

The penalty shot miss would be magnified when William Nylander threw a puck to the front of the net where it clipped Dakota Joshua, deflecting past Alex Nedeljkovic for the game's first goal at 14:33.

Toronto entered play with the worst power play in the league, having only scored 10 goals on the man advantage in 73 tries for a 13.7% conversion rate. They would notch an 11th tally on a questionable hooking penalty on Macklin Celebrini at 14:04. Celebrini was sent off what was called a hook, but it appeared that the young forward touched Troy Stecher with the tip of his stick blade.

Dmitry Orlov responded quickly, firing a shot past Hildeby form the left circle 61 seconds after Matthews goal.

Toronto out-shot San Jose 14-8 in the middle period, largely aided by the two power play chances.

Eklund made a strong play early in the 3rd period, carrying a puck up the right side before slicing in Hildeby. The Maple Leafs netminder was able to deny the Swedish forward

Dakota Joshua was called for interference at 6:28 of the 3rd period to setup a big opportunity for San Jose. Jeff Skinner had been impeded on a previous sequence after he tried chasing down a dump in deep in the Toronto zone. Once again the Sharks failed to generate any real pressure on Hildeby to let the Maple Leafs off the hook.

Ryan Reaves appeared to score a tying goal with 11 minutes remaining in regulation against his former team, but the Maple Leafs challenged the play for offside. The goal was negated when Adam Gaudette was ruled to have backed in over the line without control of the puck. It was another questionable call as Gaudette pulled the puck over the line as he was entering the zone.

Dellandrea followed that up by hooking Nicolas Roy after the Maple Leaf forward beat him to the net on a potential scoring chance. That penalty was made worse by the fact that the Sharks were trailing by the one goal and could have better used the time to mount a comeback.

The Sharks pulled Nedeljkovic with 2:10 to play and the Sharks responded. Much maligned defenseman has suddenly turned his game around. He had 4 points in the last 3 games for San Jose including his assist on the Orlov goal, but he added a 5th point with a game tying goal with 1:25 left in regulation. The defenseman unloaded on a shot from the blueline that beat Hidelby to the low glove side.

That would get San Jose to the overtime where Wennberg worked his magic.

Game Notes:

* John Klingberg extended his point scoring streak to 3 games with the primary assist on the Dmity Orlov goal and the game tying goal late in the 3rd period. The defenseman has scored a pair of goals and recorded 3 assists in that span. The assist on the Orlov goal was more impressive since goaltender Dennis Hildeby bit on a pump fake by Klingberg before the puck was moved to Orlov for the one-timer that found the back of the net.

* Oliver Ekman-Larsson suffered an injury to his left leg and had to be helped off the ice. Adam Gaudette was falling to the ice and pinched the defenseman's left skate under him.

* Yaroslav Askarov served as Alex Nedeljkovic's backup after being scratched in Philadelphia on Tuesday with an illness. The Sharks had called for an emergency goaltender for their practice on Wednesday, but Askarov made enough of a recovery to serve as the Sharks second goaltender.

* The overtime win was the 6th for the Sharks this season which leads the NHL

* The Sharks head to Pittsburgh where they will wrap up their 5-game road trip. Pittsburgh beat San Jose at SAP Center 3-0 on October 18th in the 5th game of the season. Sydney Crosby provided the Penguins with all the offense they needed with a 2nd period goal, but Anthony Mantha and Evgeny Malkin added 3rd period goals to finish the Sharks off.