Patrick Marleau had a 4 point night (1 goal and 3 assists) including the winning goal on a breakaway in the 2nd period and the Sharks never looked back after leading 3-1 after 2 periods. Vancouver made a game of it in the 3rd, scoring 7:55 in (Daniel Sedin) but it wasn't enough. Roberto Luongo said post game that he "played his heart out" but you know, it's strange. The Canucks played better in front of Andrew Raycroft against the Ducks 3 days ago than they did against the Sharks.There is a reason for that which I will not get into now.
I'm not going to fault Luongo on any of the Sharks' 3 goals against. The biggest disturbing trend is that (like I had mentioned in the game preview) that the Canucks need more secondary scoring than the Burrdins. The top line was in on all 2 Canucks' goals with 5 points between Burrows and the Twins, yet they finished a collective -5. Kesler-Grabner-Raymond had their chances but could not convert. Once again Kesler was breaking his stick in disgust as his line failed to score over and over again, goal posts and all.
Vancouver remains winless in the Shark Tank since 2007. (1-4-1)
Salo and Edler finished a -5 combined. Rob Blake, Joe Pavelski and Manny Malhotra each finished a +2 while Patrick Marleau finished a +3.
A great game by Evgeni Nabokov and the Sharks. Not-so by the Canucks, who wilted in the 2nd period. Ah well, the Avalanche lost tonight as well, so the 5-point lead for the NW Division title remains in tact. In fact, the Avs are now sitting way down in 8th spot, 6 points ahead of the Lames. How the NW Division sucks....
Congrats go to Henrik Sedin for getting his 100th and 101st points on the season. At least we can celebrate that. Hank now holds a 3 point lead on Alexander Ovechkin in the Art Ross race. Impressive.