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Marleau scores winning goal, sets new Sharks record

Jan 12, 2007 - 7:36 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Patrick Marleau had quite an eventful night for the San Jose Sharks.

Marleau established a franchise record with his 207th goal and added an assist as the Sharks skated to a 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

With San Jose already ahead, 2-1, Marleau grabbed the rebound of rookie Joe Pavelski's shot in the low slot and snapped it past goaltender Mathieu Garon with 62 seconds remaining in the second period.

"Usually, we get pucks to the points and get shots through to let our guys bang in the rebounds," said Marleau, who has four goals and seven assists in his last five games, inclusding three power-play goals. "You have to put traffic in front of the goal because if the goalie sees it, he will make the stops."

"I saw the first shot and stopped it, but the rebound I didn't see," Garon said. "I was blocked by my defensemen, but I should've caught the first shot."

The tally moved the Sharks captain, who was drafted second overall in 1997 and is in his ninth season with the club, into first place on the franchise list. Marleau moved ahead of Owen Nolan, who played for San Jose for parts of eight campaigns from 1995-2003.

"It's nice, but it was more important to get the win tonight," Marleau said.

"I watched Patty from the start, and he's always been a quiet kid, but he's turned into a great leader on this team," San Jose defenseman Scott Hannan said. "He comes out hard to play every night. He plays against other teams' top lines and he's proved it time and again, year in and year out. It's a great honor for him and it's great to be his teammate."

Patrick Rissmiller also had a goal and an assist and Pavelski set up a pair of tallies for the Sharks, who have won five of six.

"We had a bit of a slow start," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. "We didn't get our legs moving for about 10 minutes. The second half of the first period and the whole second period, we controlled the game and it was just a matter of time. If we put pressure on the goaltender, we would get some chances, and we just buried them tonight."

Rookie Anze Kopitar scored one goal and set up the other for Los Angeles, which lost for the fourth time in six games.

"This is a game we needed to win tonight and we didn't, but we can't dwell on it," Kings center Derek Armstrong said. "In the third period, we played better, but it's definitely a 60-minute game. That has been our problem."

Kopitar has 39 points, placing him second in rookie scoring behind Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, who has 41.

San Jose netminder Vesa Toskala finished with 22 saves, extending his winning streak to four games. He has allowed only seven goals during the run.