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Canucks top Sharks in shootout thriller

Mar 11, 2011 - 7:24 AM San Jose, CA (Sports Network) - With a quick deke to the backhand and a shot he roofed into the net, Alex Burrows scored the only goal in a shootout to give the Vancouver Canucks a thrilling 5-4 win over the San Jose Sharks.

Three of the eight goals scored in regulation came in the final 2:14 of the third period, with San Jose rallying to tie the game twice.

But Vancouver got the win, improving to 4-0 on a five-game road trip that ends Saturday in Calgary. Burrows also scored in regulation and Sami Salo, Mason Raymond and Daniel Sedin all added goals.

Cory Schneider made 44 saves for the victory, including a whopping nine in the five minutes of overtime.

Ryane Clowe scored twice for San Jose, which fell to 3-2 on a homestand trip that ends against the Rangers on Saturday. Devin Setoguchi and Torrey Mitchell also had goals while Antti Niemi made 24 saves in a losing effort.

The waning moments of regulation -- and all five minutes of overtime -- were a breathless back-and-forth battle.

It looked bleak for the Sharks until Mitchell stickhandled through a couple of defenders and beat Schneider to tie the game at 3-3 at the 17:47 mark.

Things turned quickly when San Jose's Douglas Murray was whistled -- perhaps unfairly -- for high-sticking after getting tangled up with Ryan Kesler. Sedin cashed in the power play with a goal from the right circle, making it 4-3 with just 1:49 left in regulation.

Then, they turned again. Burrows went off for a holding-the-stick penalty and Clowe tied the game for San Jose on a tic-tac-toe play with Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley, stuffing the puck in from the goalmouth with 21 seconds left on the clock.

"We showed we're resilient," said Thornton. "It sucks that we don't get the extra point, but I thought we played really, really well."

The Sharks got a power play in overtime when Kesler went off for a high stick. They nearly scored, too, but Clowe was robbed when Schneider got his right pad on a point-blank shot.

At the other end, Canucks defenseman Dan Hamhuis hit the post with a slap shot near the top of the left circle.

After peppering Schneider in overtime, San Jose mustered little in the shootout as Clowe, Kyle Wellwood and Joe Pavelski were all stoned by the Vancouver goaltender.

Sharks head coach Todd McLellan, while happy with his team's effort, expressed his distaste for the shootout format.

"It's a shootout," he said. "In my opinion, the game is already over."

Vancouver had a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes, getting first period goals from Burrows and Salo, who scored on the power play. The Sharks tied it with two goals in the first 2:04 of the second, from Setoguchi and Clowe, but the Canucks moved back ahead on Raymond's tally at 5:38 of the frame.

Game Notes

Coming into the game, the Sharks had won 11 of the previous 15 meetings with Vancouver...San Jose was just 1-for-7 on the power play, while the Canucks went 2-for-6.