THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Benn Ferriero scored the tie-breaking goal with 14:20 remaining in the third period to send the San Jose Sharks off on a lengthy trip on a winning note, beating the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 on Friday night.

Joe Thornton, Dan Boyle, Justin Braun and Jamie McGinn also scored to help the Sharks avoid losing three straight games in regulation for the first time since October. Brent Burns added three assists.

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Antti Niemi made 30 saves to win for the fifth time in eight starts against Chicago since leaving the Blackhawks for San Jose before last season.

Marcus Kruger scored two goals and Bryan Bickell also scored for the Blackhawks, who have lost seven straight games, including the first five on a nine-game trip. Chicago also has lost nine straight road games.

While the Blackhawks are struggling on their longest trip in 18 years, the Sharks are about embark on a long trip of their own. With a tennis tournament and Disney on Ice coming to San Jose, the Sharks head out on a nine-game trip that begins Sunday in St. Louis.

Ferriero made sure they left town on a winning note when he tipped in a pass from Brad Winchester behind the net for his seventh goal of the season. It’s the fifth time Ferriero has scored to give the Sharks the lead, including three in the third period.

McGinn added a power-play goal with 5:56 remaining, San Jose’s third tally with the man advantage against Corey Crawford.

Chicago had overcome a lacklustre start to tie the game earlier in the third when Dave Bolland fed Bickell from behind the net to make it 3-3 just over two minutes into the third. But the Blackhawks couldn’t close it out and remained winless on the road since Dec. 14 at Minnesota.

Chicago dominated the second period but still trailed after 40 minutes because of an unfortunate bounce. The Sharks were outshot 17-3 in the period but got the go-ahead goal after nearly botching a 2-on-1 chance. Joe Pavelski missed Patrick Marleau on a pass on the odd-man rush but Thornton came up with the puck. His centring pass to Pavelski hit off rookie defenceman Dylan Olsen’s stick and past Crawford to give the Sharks a 3-2 lead with 4:17 left in the second.

Kruger had tied the game with two goals off rebounds earlier in the period, ending a 15-game goal-scoring drought with his first career multi-goal game.

The Sharks got off to a fast start after playing sloppily in losing the previous two games by killing three first-period power plays and converting on two of three chances of their own.

The first came early in the period after Michael Frolik was called for a double-minor high-sticking penalty. Braun quickly converted on his 25th birthday. He rushed in from the point and took a backhand pass from Logan Couture behind the net to score his second goal of the season. The pass extended Couture’s point streak to a career-best eight games.

The Blackhawks were short-handed again later in the period after five players were sent off for roughing following a hit from Thornton on Jonathan Toews near the benches. Boyle, who missed Wednesday’s game with an illness, looked just fine as he knocked in a rebound of Couture’s point shot to make it 2-0.

.Notes: The Blackhawks were without two starting defenceman as Steve Montador was placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury and Niklas Hjalmarsson sat out with an upper-body injury. Olsen was recalled from the AHL and Sami Lepisto played for the first time since Jan. 2. … Two of Braun’s four career goals have come against Chicago.

Thanks to Dustin Byfuglien’s overtime winning goal in Game 3, the Chicago Blackhawks are in complete control of the Western final and sit one step away from their first Stanley Cup final appearance since 1992.

It hasn’t been as easy as the results have shown, so the Blackhawks to a man know they still have one big step left.

“You hear the old cliche the fourth one is the hardest to win and that’s the truth,” Blackhawks sniper Patrick Sharp said. “We look at the series against San Jose, each game could go either way and we are fortunate to be up 3-0.”

“Heading into this series we would have looked at it that way,” added Blackhawks defenceman Duncan Keith. “All the games have been close and we were able to get the two wins in San Jose.”

The City of Chicago is buzzing so it will be difficult for the young Hawks to not look past Sunday’s game to the Stanley Cup final.

“Its very hard not to and very tough not to get excited about having that chance,” Hawks captain Jonathan Toews explained. “We still got a lot of work ahead of us and that’s what we’re going to do our best to focus on.”

For the San Jose Sharks it must be frustrating knowing they have thrown everything at the Blackhawks, especially at Chicago rookie goaltender Anti Niemi, and have been unable to succeed. Yet here they sit three games down and have the monumental task of climbing back into this series.

“You wanna play well and we’ve been giving ourselves an opportunity to win,” Sharks forward Patrick Marleau said. “But at least we’re in there and we’re getting chances.”

Sharks netminder Evgeni Nabokov who has been outplayed by Niemi in this series is baffled about how things have transpired.

“I think now the answer is we have done a lot of good things but unfortunately its just not good enough right now,” Nabokov said. “So we just have to find a way to win.”

“We talk about it all the time that playoffs is kind of like ground hog day,” Manny Maholtra added. “Whether you win or lose last game, your mentality is you want to win the next one.”

Key stat: The Sharks plan of firing as many shots on goal as possible hasn’t exactly worked in their favour during the 2010 playoffs. Their record is a mediocre 3-3 in any game that they have had 40 or more shots.