By Dave Vest
SAN JOSE – The Coyotes rallied from a two-goal deficit to earn a point against the team they are chasing in the Pacific Division standings Monday night at HP Pavilion.

The bad news was they failed to score a shootout goal on Evgeni Nabokov and lost, 3-2, to the San Jose Sharks.

Sharks center Joe Pavelski put the puck past Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov in the first round of the shootout and that was all San Jose needed to secure the extra point as Phoenix's Peter Mueller, Radim Vrbata and Robert Lang came up empty on their league-mandated breakaways.

Phoenix (24-13-3) reached the shootout mostly because Bryzgalov stopped 36 of 38 shots, including all 19 he faced in the third period.

San Jose (24-8-7), which has won five games in a row, took a 1-0 lead at 2:54 of the first period when Devin Setoguchi backhanded a rebound past Bryzgalov while defenseman Anders Eriksson was trying to move him out of the lower slot.

With 15:47 left in the second period, Sharks center Torrey Mitchell was called for tripping Keith Yandle behind the Phoenix net. Midway through the power play, Pavelski intercepted a pass at the San Jose blue line and took off toward Bryzgalov on a short-handed breakaway. Pavelski put a nice forehand-backhand move on Bryzgalov and then lifted the puck over him and into the net at 5:17.

Coyotes forward Petr Prucha pulled Phoenix to within a goal when he redirected a wrist shot by Ed Jovanovski from the left point past Nabokov at 9:20 of the second period.

Phoenix wasn't done scoring.

Fresh out of the penalty box, Coyotes forward Scottie Upshall launched a shot that sailed just right of the San Jose goal and off the end boards. Coyotes capain Shane Doan trailed the play nicely and tucked the rebound between the right post and Nabokov at 18:22 of the second period.

"We made a couple of mistakes to fall behind but I liked the way our guys climbed back into it," Coyotes Head Coach Dave Tippett said. "There were chances to win it both ways, we hit the crossbar in overtime, but the goaltending was good both ways."

Yandle

Phoenix went on a power play at 1:43 of overtime after San Jose's Devin Setoguchi was called for tripping Coyotes defenseman Adrian Aucoin behind the Phoenix goal.

The Coyotes kept the puck in the San Jose zone for most of their power play and had several good scoring chances.

Their best came with two minutes left in the overtime when defenseman Keith Yandle took a shot that got past Sharks goalie Evegeni Nabokov. Unfortunately for Phoenix, Yandle's shot hit the crossbar.

• Thanks to a power play, the Coyotes outshot San Jose 4-1 in overtime. Captain Shane Doan rifled two shots at Nabokov within seven seconds, but Nabokov gloved them both to preserve the tie.

• Center Vernon Fiddler returned to the lineup after missing the past three games because of a lower-body injury. His return, however, lasted only four shifts. The Coyotes coaches did not like the way Fiddler was moving and removed him from the game for precautionary reasons.

• Defenseman Jim Vandermeer missed the game because of an undisclosed upper-body injury. He is day-to-day.

• The Coyotes are 9-4-2 vs. teams from the Pacific Division.

• Sharks defenseman Douglas Murray delivered a shoulder check on Coyotes forward Petr Prucha at 9:00 of the first period that knocked Prucha to the ice and dislodged Prucha's helmet. Prucha stayed in the game and later scored his seventh goal of the season.

• The Coyotes and Sharks will play again on New Year's Eve in Glendale.

• Phoenix scratched Jeff Hoggan, Kevin Porter and Jim Vandermeer (upper-body injury). San Jose scratched Jay Leach and Brad Staubitz.

"It was a great game, a fun game. There were lots of scoring chances for both sides. We were playing against a good team and that's what you're going to see, a good game."  "This is a tough building to get any points in and they were pretty amped up... It's disappointing once you get it tied up not to find a way to win it." "Your mind-set is always to kill the penalty. The boys did a good job of sacrificing their bodies. That's why we were able to kill that penalty (in overtime)." Bryzgalov Doan Nabokov