Fans: "Cody, Cody, Cody"

THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER -- Cody Hodgson scored his second goal of the game with 4:17 left to play as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the San Jose Sharks 4-3 on Saturday.

Ryan Kesler and David Booth also scored as Vancouver (29-15-4) broke its mini-slump and improved to 1-1-1 on its six-game home stand.

Logan Couture scored both shorthanded and on the power play while Dan Boyle also added a goal for the depleted Sharks (26-14-5), who were without top-six forwards Martin Havlat (hamstring) and Ryane Clowe (facial injury) en route to their second straight loss.

With the teams deadlocked 2-2 late, all heck broke loose as the clubs combined for three goals in a 1:32 span.

Kesler made it 3-2 with 5:49 remaining, snapping up the puck at his own blue-line, streaking down the ice on a 2-on-1 and beating Antti Niemi with a high glove shot for his 13th goal of the season.

Boyle responded 36 seconds later, charging hard to the net and backhanding his own rebound past Roberto Luongo.

The teams seemed destined for their third straight extra time game against each other.

Then Hodgson struck again, getting deep in San Jose territory and banking a shot from behind the goal line off Niemi's stick and in. Hodgson, who drew chants of "Cody, Cody, Cody" after the game, has 13 goals and 29 points this season to sit fourth in the rookie scoring race.

Vancouver games versus San Jose have taken on a new meaning since last year's Western Conference final, where the Canucks won a heated series four games to one to advance to the Stanley Cup final.

The games are usually a little faster, chippier and a lot more physical, and despite a slow start for the first half of the game, Saturday was no exception.

Jamie McGinn hammered Dan Hamhuis halfway into San Jose's bench, Brad Winchester caught Alex Burrows with his head down behind Vancouver's net, and then Keith Ballard took on Joe Pavelski in a spirited bout with seven seconds remaining in the second period.

The teams were tied 2-2 after two periods, but the score flattered San Jose considering they mustered just seven shots through the first 30 minutes.

Couture gave the San Jose a 2-1 lead on a power-play early in the second period, taking a pass and quickly backhanding the puck short side behind a surprised Luongo. It was San Jose's sixth power play goal in 45 chances since Dec. 23.

Hodgson got that back three minutes later, going to the net off a faceoff and backhanding a Mason Raymond rebound into the open net.

It was the Canucks who dominated the first period, although the frame ended in a 1-1 tie.

Booth, with his second goal in as many games after recently returning from a knee injury, deftly deflected an Alex Edler point shot 1:06 into the game to open scoring, and the Canucks kept coming from there.

Kesler's rebound chance fluttered just over the crossbar and onto the top of the goal, and Raymond's snapshot from the left side rang off the goal post.

This came in the first nine minutes of the game, and the Sharks hadn't recorded a shot yet.

But Couture responded with a short-handed tally at 15:54, outracing Kevin Bieksa and Hamhuis on a breakaway and fooling Luongo with a pretty backhand deke.

NOTES: Vancouver improved to 6-0 in games after two straight losses. ... Canucks D Chris Tanev played his first game of the season, while Andrew Alberts and Alexander Sulzer were healthy scratches. ... Sharks D Jason Demers was a healthy scratch. ... Since Todd McLellan became coach of the Sharks at the start of the 2008-09 season, San Jose has the league's best regular-season record with a .677 winning percentage. ... No player in the NHL has more points than Joe Thornton since his debut in 1997 (1,038 including Saturday's game). He has 37 points in 45 games this season.