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Canucks end struggles against Sharks

Mar 8, 2009 - 7:02 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- The Vancouver Canucks finally figured out the San Jose Sharks.

Roberto Luongo made 28 saves and Mats Sundin netted the game-winner as the Canucks snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Western Conference foe, skating to a 3-1 victory over the Sharks on Saturday.

"I don't really take that much importance in that kind of stuff," Luongo said. "The only thing we talk about is you want to send a message just in case we face these guys in the playoffs and let them know it's not going to be an easy series."

"He played well but that isn't a surprise," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said of Luongo. "It's not alarming to anybody. He's going to play that way every night. To beat him, you have to go get him and you have to find some rebounds and second opportunities. We did that later on in the game but not consistently enough in the first half."

Alexander Edler and defenseman Kevin Bieksa also scored and Ryan Kesler collected two assists for Vancouver, which has won four straight contests.

"We're feeling pretty good as a team right now," Luongo said. "We're confident that any time we go into a game that no matter who we're playing that we can get the win. We played a really solid game against a great team tonight and it was a big win for us."

The Canucks, who sit in fifth place in the West, defeated the Sharks for the first time since April 7, 2007.

Joe Thornton tallied and Brian Boucher turned aside 26 shots in his fifth consecutive start for San Jose, which has lost four in a row for the first time this season. Boucher was forced to start in place of Evgeni Nabokov, who missed a second straight game with a lower body injury.

The Sharks, however, are still tied with the Detroit Red Wings atop the conference standings.

Edler opened the scoring at 3:15 of the first period and Sundin forged a two-goal lead less than three minutes later. It was Sundin's seventh goal of the campaign.

"We kept doing the things we've been doing the last few weeks here," Sundin said. "It's nice to get a good start, especially playing a good team like that, you want to make sure you don't fall behind a few goals."

Thornton halved the deficit with three ticks left in the middle session, but Bieksa scored a power-play goal with 8:12 remaining in the third to restore the two-goal bulge.

"I think it was a statement game," Bieska said. "We've been winning for the last little while but to beat a quality team like San Jose, a team we haven't beaten all season, is huge for us. It's definitely something we need going into the playoffs."