SAN JOSE, Calif. – Christian Ehrhoff scored a power-play goal with 2:04 left in overtime, and the San Jose Sharks overcame Tomas Vokoun’s 39-save performance for a fight-filled 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators .

Paul Kariya forced overtime by scoring his second goal of the game on a crafty backhand with 10.9 seconds left in regulation. After David Legwand received a penalty in overtime, Ehrhoff scored on a slap shot from outside the faceoff circle on the only stoppable shot that Vokoun missed all day.

Mark Smith scored a power-play goal with 7:47 left in the third period, and Jonathan Cheechoo also scored for the Sharks, who have won five straight home games – including the first two on a key six-game homestand.

Nashville’s Scott Nichol and Brendan Witt and San Jose’s Milan Michalek and Scott Parker got game misconducts after a series of fights – and midway through the second period, Parker attempted to climb over the barrier separating the benches to fight Witt, who pounded rookie Michalek in a first-period fight.

Neither Parker nor Witt managed to land any big punches, and teammates quickly pulled them down from a potentially scary conflict. Kariya scored his first goal on the ensuing power play after Parker left with 24 minutes in penalties.

Cheechoo tied it later in the second period with his 37th goal of the season on Joe Thornton’s NHL-best 66th assist.

Vesa Toskala made 17 saves for the Sharks, who were without starter Evgeni Nabokov again because of an abdominal bruise.

Vokoun kept Nashville in a one-sided offensive game, making several stunning saves and even checking Cheechoo to the ground when the San Jose forward got a partial breakaway midway through the third period.

Michalek and rookie Steve Bernier got misconducts late in the first period for simultaneous fights with Witt and Nichol. Bernier also got an instigator penalty but stayed in the game – but the Sharks were incensed when Witt pounded the 21-year-old Michalek, who isn’t known as a fighter.

Between periods, the officials refused to tell a pool reporter why Michalek received a game misconduct, but Witt was allowed to keep playing.

The Sharks had a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:40 in the third period after Jerred Smithson closed his hand on the puck, but San Jose couldn’t score until Smith threaded a shot through traffic and past a screened Vokoun with 6 seconds left on the power play.

Kariya scored on the Predators’ last gasp, flipping a backhand over Toskala while Vokoun was pulled for an extra attacker.

Notes: The fights were the first for Bernier and Michalek in their NHL careers. … Parker was playing just his second game back since missing the previous 26 with a concussion. The Sharks’ enforcer has played just five games all season.

AP-ES-03-11-06 1850EST