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Sharks swim past Blackhawks

Nov 25, 2010 - 7:37 AM San Jose, CA (Sports Network) - Joe Pavelski scored what proved to be the decisive goal while Patrick Marleau potted a pair of goals in San Jose's 5-2 win over Chicago at HP Pavilion.

Joe Thornton moved into 85th place on the NHL's all-time scoring list with 950 points by notching a pair of assists while Marleau recorded his 44th career multi-goal game for the Sharks, who halted a three-game losing streak in their first game against the team that swept them out of the Western Conference Finals last season.

"It was definitely on our minds the way last season went," Pavelski said. "They still have their players, you can see their core is there, they play hard and they're a really good team over there. The game was about tonight, though, really about what we need to do to get back on track."

Antti Niemi turned aside 30 shots to earn the victory in his first meeting against his former mates, whom he backstopped to the Stanley Cup title last year.

Jake Dowell and Patrick Sharp scored for the Blackhawks, who have alternated wins and losses in their last four games.

Marty Turco stopped 24-of-28 shots to suffer the loss.

"We want to be better but what are you going to do?" asked Chicago captain Jonathan Toews. "Are you going to get negative and start worrying about what you've done so far this season and how it's not good? No, we're going to keep going forward. It's all we can do, we can't do anything about what has already happened."

Sharp tipped in a Nick Boynton shot just under four minutes into the final stanza to draw the visitors to within 3-2. The Sharks restored a two-goal cushion a bit less than 10 minutes later with a power play tally.

Thornton put on the brakes at center ice and hit Marleau in flight down the right side. Marleau turned a Chicago defender and ripped a wrister past Turco for his ninth of the year at 13:47. He then added an empty-net goal with three seconds to play to finish the scoring.

In the first period, Devin Setoguchi intercepted an attempted clearing pass in the high slot and got the puck to Thornton. Thornton carried behind the net and made a nifty backhand dish in front to Heatley, who one-timed it home past Turco to give the hosts a 1-0 lead 13:24 into the game.

The teams exchanged goals over a two minute span early in the middle session that saw the Sharks emerge with a 3-1 lead.

Jamal Mayers wristed home his first goal of the year at 2:37 to make it 2-0 before Dowell halved the lead with a backhander from in close just 31 seconds later.

Pavelski's power play wrister from the top of the right circle at 4:38 pushed the lead back to a pair.

Game Notes

Wednesday was the first of four meetings between the teams this season...Marleau has scored 17 goals in 48 career matches against Chicago...The Blackhawks had scored first in seven straight games entering Wednesday's contest...Turco is 24-15-5 in 45 games against the Sharks.