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ANAHEIM — Coach Pete DeBoer has said on more than one occasion in recent days that the Sharks were going to need everybody to contribute as they plow through one of their busiest stretches of season.
That couldn’t have been any more evident than it was Sunday night.
The Sharks got goals from five players and another steady effort from goalie Aaron Dell to earn a 6-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center, a rare laugher over their Orange County rivals.
Mikkel Boedker had two goals and an assist and Joe Thornton and Marc-Edouard Vlasic each had a goal and an assist as the Sharks improved to 5-1 in a stretch that has seen them play six times in nine days. Dell made 33 saves.
“We got scoring contributions from the depth of our lineup and guys who haven’t been getting on the board a lot lately,” DeBoer said. “It was huge. Sixth game in nine nights, a back-to-back in a tough situation. We had a lot of reasons to not show up and play as well as we did tonight.”
Kevin Labanc and Melker Karlsson also scored for the Sharks, who moved three points up on Calgary for second place in the Pacific Division.
“When you’re going good, every night, you don’t know who’s going to be big line or the big player,” Thornton said. “We rely on everybody to contribute every night.”
For Boedker, it was his third and fourth goal in five games and his first three-point night since he recorded a hat trick last January in Edmonton. Labanc’s goal was his first in a month.
“He’s been shooting the puck a little more and they’re going in,” Karlsson said of Boedker. “It’s good for him and good for the team.”
Boedker’s first goal Sunday, at the 13:56 mark of the second period, was the 100th of his NHL career and gave the Sharks a 3-0 lead.
“That’s what we need,” Dell said. “Other teams are going to key on our top guys, so we’re going to need some secondary scoring.”
The Ducks had cut a three-goal deficit down to 3-2 as Ryan Getzlaf scored 1:47 into the third period. Thornton, though, responded just a minute later.
With the Sharks on their fifth power play, Thornton took a pass from Brent Burns and beat Ducks goalie John Gibson with a shot from inside the circle for his 13th of the season.
Thornton’s two points Sunday gave him 1,426 for his career and moved him past Bryan Trottier for 16th on the NHL’s all-time list.
“We talked a little bit between periods about what to do on the PP,” Thornton said. “They were coming early, obviously scoring that second goal. But that kind of put them back on their heels again.”
“That was kind of the turning point for them,” Dell said. “They kind of shut if down a little bit after that.”
The Sharks beat the Ducks by more than one goal for the first time since Oct. 10, 2015 which was a 2-0 San Jose win. Since the start of the 2015-16 season, all 11 games between the Sharks and Ducks has been decided by two goals or less. The last 10 have been decided by one goal, with four going to a shootout or overtime.
Vlasic opened the scoring at the 13:53 mark of the first period.
After he carried the puck across the Ducks’ blue line, he found Tomas Hertl with a short pass through the legs of Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin then skated toward the net. Hertl returned puck with a backhand pass, and Vlasic beat goalie John Gibson with a low shot to the glove side for his seventh goal of the season.
Otherwise, the first period was owned by Dell.
Dell stopped a Rakell breakaway 71 seconds into the first period, and continued to bail out the Sharks throughout the first period. A few seconds after a giveaway from Jannik Hansen, Adam Henrique had a chance from in close but rang a shot off the post.
Dell stopped 31 of 32 shots for the Sharks in Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“Gets you right into it right away,” Dell said of the early breakaway stop. “We were a little tired on a back-to-back, but we handled it. We kind of fought off the storm and we got going partway through that period.”
Joonas Donskoi was a scratch for the game with the flu. Hansen took his spot in the lineup.
