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Roenick scores twice as Sharks top Canucks

Oct 6, 2007 - 5:49 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- The Vancouver Canucks are wishing Jeremy Roenick remained retired.

Roenick scored two goals and Evgeni Nabokov made 22 saves as the San Jose Sharks defeated the Canucks, 3-1, on Friday night in Vancouver's season opener.

The 37-year-old Roenick, who looked to be on his way to the broadcast booth three months ago, is now just three tallies shy of 500 for his career. The 18-year veteran is looking to join Mike Modano (507) and Joe Mullen (502) as the only American-born players to reach the plateau.

"Every goal is an exciting one now," Roenick said. "You do inch closer to the milestone, but more importantly, it's doing the things this team needs me to do. It's going out there and helping them win.

"If I just go out and play the way they want me to and play hard, that (milestone) is going to come. I can enjoy it when the season is over."

After San Jose failed to score on a four-minute power play, Roenick banged in his first goal of the night to open a 2-0 lead with 8:12 left in the first period. The tally came just three seconds after the man advantage had expired.

Roenick scored again at 15:20 of the opening session, extending the Sharks' advantage to 3-0. After Milan Michalek helped win a faceoff, defenseman Doug Murray blasted a shot from the point, which Roenick deflected between the pads of goaltender Roberto Luongo.

"We wanted to come out and really take it to them," Roenick said. "It's tough to play (in another) home opener in a Canadian building. There's so much expectations for (the Canucks). They're going to come out excited. We knew after last night's performance that we had to come out better."

Two months after saying he would retire, Roenick signed a one-year contract with San Jose on September 4. The nine-time All-Star skated just 11 shifts in Thursday's 3-2 shootout loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

"He knows he could be on the bubble every night," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "We're pretty deep up front and we've got a few injuries right now. It's important that he pay attention to detail. I think he's finding his game again.

"Sometimes when you've played on teams that don't make the playoffs, you forget about all the little details that you need to help the team win. He's doing a lot of little things well right now."

Nabokov has not surrendered a first- or second-period goal in either of the Sharks' two contests this season. The 32-year-old goaltender's cause was helped when rookie Ryan Shannon missed a golden opportunity in the middle session, firing a snap shot off the side of a vacant net.

Nabokov's shutout bid ended when Brendan Morrison put a wraparound between the goalie's pads to cut the deficit to 3-1 at 5:56 of the third. Morrison has played in 513 straight games, which is the longest active streak in the NHL.

"It was a good job of the guys pinching on the wall there," Morrison said of his goal. "We pinched down and made them chip it behind, and I got a step on their D-man and was just able to slide it through (Nabokov's) legs."

The Canucks nearly added another goal midway through the period, but Nabokov was able to snag a bouncing puck at the goal line. The play went to video review, but there was no conclusive evidence to reverse the decision.

Joe Thornton gave the Sharks an early 1-0 lead at 5:30 of the first. The nine-year veteran led a 2-on-1 rush down the ice, baited a defender into thinking he was going to pass and fired a wrist shot that beat Luongo for his second goal of the season.

Similar to last season, Vancouver was haunted by its inability to both stay out of the penalty box and generate offense. The Canucks spent over seven minutes of the decisive first period killing penalties and committed six infractions overall in the contest.

It took nearly nine minutes for the Canucks to record their first shot on goal.

"We wanted to get off to a good start," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. "We made a couple of mistakes early and took some penalties. They're a tough team to play against when they have a 2-0 lead right in the first period. It's not the way we wanted to get started, and I guess it's not the results that we were looking for."

The runner-up for the Vezina and Hart Trophies last season, Luongo stopped 28 shots and kept Vancouver in the game by holding San Jose scoreless over the final two periods.