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Sharks continue winning ways, down Canucks

Dec 14, 2007 - 7:22 AM By Michael Duca PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- Joe Thornton scored a goal and added an assist to lead the San Jose Sharks to a 5-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

Evgeni Nabokov made 15 saves for his NHL-leading 17th win of the season as the Sharks picked up their sixth victory in the last seven games.

Thornton, who set up the game's first goal and netted an insurance tally late in the third period, leads San Jose with 13 goals and 24 assists this season.

The Sharks have won back-to-back games at home for just the second time this campaign.

"We want this to be a hard building to play in," San Jose captain Patrick Marleau said. "We want to come out strong in the first period and let other teams know this is our building."

The Sharks opened the scoring on a power play at 11:40 of the first period after Canucks rookie Jason Jaffray was whistled for hooking.

Thornton retrieved the puck in his own zone and fired a cross-ice pass to a racing Milan Michalek at the blue line. Michalek outskated Vancouver defenseman Willie Mitchell to the crease and flipped a backhander past goaltender Curtis Sanford to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead.

"I had good speed," Michalek said. "Joe made a good pass, and I made the corner on him and saw the goalie's move. We were talking before the game that we had to use our speed early because they played last night."

The Sharks' second goal came on an outstanding effort by Marleau. In his own zone, the center poke-checked the puck away from a Canuck and skated behind the Sharks' net before passing to defenseman Christian Ehrhoff and taking off down the ice.

Ehrhoff fed Marcel Goc, who hit a flying Marleau in stride. Marleau duplicated Michalek's earlier move from the opposite side, skating through the crease and backhanding his shot under Sanford's glove with less than a minute to play in the first period, sending Vancouver into the intermission down two goals.

However, the Sharks were without Alexei Semenov for the remainder of the game as the defenseman sustained a hand injury in the opening session.

San Jose made it 3-0 on a soft goal at 12:42 of the second session, when Joe Pavelski slapped home a shot from the high slot, ramming it between the pads of Sanford. The tally ended Sanford's evening as Drew MacIntyre was called upon to make his NHL debut immediately following the goal.

Playing because starter Roberto Luongo is sidelined with a rib injury, Sanford made just nine saves, falling to 4-2-0.

"He's played unbelievable for us all year, and tonight he let in three, but it wasn't bad goals," Vancouver's Henrik Sedin said. "It was just a matter of getting the team to wake up."

The Canucks finally got on the scoreboard just over five minutes into the third period. Blue-liner Lukas Krajicek's shot was blocked by Sharks defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh, but the puck went directly to Sedin, who flipped it behind Nabokov from the left side of the crease.

The Canucks narrowed the deficit to 3-2 with 9:54 remaining, when the ageless Trevor Linden netted his third goal of the season on a slap shot from the left faceoff circle that Nabokov partially deflected. But the puck dribbled off his glove and across the goal line for the tally.

"To be honest with you, the puck went through the screen and I thought I had it," Nabokov said. "I fell down, and I guess the puck fell off somewhere. I knew it hit me mid-chest."

San Jose answered just 41 seconds later as rookie Devin Setoguchi intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, allowing Thornton to grab the puck and fire a slapper past MacIntyre.

"I was backchecking," Setoguchi said. "They didn't see me coming as fast as I could from behind. I saw the pass coming. Joe put a pretty hard shot in the back of the net. It came out as fast as it went in."

Exactly one minute later, MacIntyre - who finished with nine saves - backhanded the puck from behind his net to Krajicek, who mishandled it in front. Steve Bernier appeared to ram it in behind MacIntyre before he could return to the crease, but the Sharks right wing said the goaltender was responsible for the tally.

"I didn't touch the puck, he coughed it up by himself," Bernier said.