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Marleau helps Sharks double up Oilers

Feb 18, 2009 - 7:35 AM SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- Patrick Marleau did his best to make certain the San Jose Sharks' slide would not continue.

The captain scored twice in just under four minutes in the second period as the Sharks netted three goals in the session en route to a 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.

Joe Pavelski scored his fourth goal in as many games and All-Star Joe Thornton also tallied as San Jose snapped a three-game losing streak.

"I think we've got to be a little more attached to the game and more involved," Marleau said. "For the full 60 (minutes), I think we did it at times. We need to get back to playing the way we can with no letups. That's how you're going to win in the playoffs - and that's what we need to get back to."

"It was a battle out there," Pavelski said. "The season's winding down and every two points are crucial and we wanted to get back in the win column. Everyone contributed and that was a big reason we got the win tonight."

Evgeni Nabokov turned aside 24 shots for the Sharks, who posted just their second win in their last eight games (2-2-4).

"It's that time of year, the points mean a lot to every team," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "We're going to see that more and more where teams are really scrapping to get the points and set themselves up for a playoff position. It's good for us to play in those games because that's how the playoffs are going to be."

Fourth-liner Zack Stortini and Erik Cole scored, defenseman Tom Gilbert notched a pair of assists for the second straight game and Dwayne Roloson finished with 27 saves for Edmonton, which saw its three-game winning streak come to an end.

"The battle was good, guys stood up for one another and it was impressive in a lot of ways," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "I think that's what we're going to take out of the game is on back-to-back nights, we didn't lay down that's for sure and that was a real positive side of the game. ... In a couple of situations, we didn't do what we needed to do and it costs us the game ultimately."

"We're disappointed. We felt like we had a chance to win tonight's game but we're proud of the way we battled and our work ethic was great coming off a back-to-back (games)," Oilers defenseman Steve Staios said. "A couple of mental things (hurt us), that's part of the game but the disappointment is we could have won that game tonight."

After pulling the teams even at 2-2 just 1:48 into the second period, Marleau gave the Sharks a lead they would not relinquish after finishing off a 2-on-1 advantage just 3:55 later for a shorthanded tally.

Thornton capped the second-period outburst by netting his 14th tally of the campaign with 54 seconds remaining in the session.

"It was a weird kind of thing," Thornton said. "I think the 'D' mishandled it a little bit and I saw Lukie (Lukas Kaspar) come off the bench and we were pretty fresh. I don't know how I got the puck, where I got it but it was pretty much an open net, so I just shot and hit the net and scored a goal."

Pavelski opened the scoring after accepting a centering feed from Milan Michalek midway through the first period, but Stortini leveled the contest just 2:10 later after tapping home a rebound for his fourth goal of the season - and third in his last six games.

Cole gave Edmonton a 2-1 lead after the puck caromed off the end boards and out into the slot. With the awkward bounce putting Nabokov out of position, Cole was able to bat the bouncing puck out of the air and into the net for his 13th goal of the season.