• Sluggish start hurts Canucks
• Martin Jones solid in win
• Canucks can’t capitalize in big second
VANCOUVER — It was the first period that really did them in.
After a six-day layoff for the All-Star Break—the longest stretch of time off for any team in the NHL—the Vancouver Canucks took to their home ice and fell 4–1 to the Pacific Division–leading San Jose Sharks. The home team looked sluggish out of the gate, so a bit of rust was partly to blame, though it didn’t help that the Sharks looked dominant through much of 60 minutes, carrying momentum from their 3–1 win over Chicago on Tuesday.
“I thought the first half of the game we weren’t moving our feet real good,” said Canucks coach Willie Desjardins, acknowledging that the break probably played some factor in his team’s poor start. “I thought it hurt us in the first period.”
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The Sharks entered Thursday’s clash boasting the third-best goals-against average in the league at 2.29. Goaltender Martin Jones helped show why, stopping all but one of the Canucks’ shots as Vancouver outshot San Jose 33–32.
Things initially went sour for the Canucks when Troy Stecher—who’d joked the morning of the game that he hoped not to be “starstruck” by the Sharks’ famous facial hair—was called for interference halfway through the first period. Patrick Marleau scored just 15 seconds into San Jose’s power play, notching his 500th career goal. The 37-year-old is the 45th player in NHL history to reach that milestone, and the first to score them all with the Sharks—though the cheers from the crowd were naturally much less enthusiastic than the last time a player reached an important milestone at Rogers Arena, when Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin reached the 1,000-point mark in the team’s last game at home before the break.
The Sharks would finish the first period up 2–0 thanks to a botched Canucks clearance that resulted in a point shot by David Schlemko—which Vancouver netminder Ryan Miller saved, only to have Chris Tierney pounce on the rebound before defenceman Philip Larsen could track it down.
The Canucks showed some life in the second period, registering 16 shots compared to just six in the first—and outshooting San Jose, who managed only 11. But 53 seconds into the third period, the home team fell victim to San Jose’s mighty beards, as Joe Thornton outmuscled Stecher for the puck, allowing Tomas Hertl to feed Brent Burns just outside Miller’s crease.
It took until 6:35 in the third period for Vancouver to find the back of the net courtesy of Larsen, whose shot—itself off a deflection—changed direction after hitting Paul Martin and ended the Canucks’ goal drought at 114:49. The goal also marked Larsen’s first as a Canuck.
Tierney, though, quieted any hope of a comeback when he scored for a second time on the night to make it 4–1. The goal was initially waved off for goalie interference—Joel Ward seemed to have backed into Miller—but the call was reversed following a San Jose challenge, leaving the Canucks three goals down with only 5:19 to play.
“I thought our team started to play better the second half of the game, and that was a good thing,” Desjardins said. The coach praised the Sedins’ performance—and their chemistry with current linemate Loui Eriksson—and said he thought Larsen, who was playing in his second consecutive game after being out of the lineup since Dec. 6, fared well despite a few shaky moments.
“I thought Larsen played pretty good tonight,” Desjardins said, noting that he’d chosen Larsen for his skill on the power play. While Larsen’s performance was what you might call uneven, Desjardins said that “everything he did was right—he just didn’t execute.”
The team’s power play once again came up short. “They scored two on the power play, and we scored zero, so that’s the difference,” said Daniel Sedin.
Sedin said that despite the team’s sluggish start, the Canucks had given themselves chances to rally. “I thought we played a good enough game to get a few points, but we couldn’t bury the chances,” he said.
“Last 40 was good enough, first 20 was not good enough,” he added. “If you’re down in this league, it’s really tough to come back.”
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The game marked the Canucks’ first meeting with the Sharks this season. Now winless in their last nine home games versus San Jose, Vancouver will face the Sharks four more times—twice at home, and twice at the SAP Center.
The Canucks have now dropped two in a row, scoring only once since their win in Denver. They’re tied with Dallas at 52 points, with six teams now separated by only four points in the race for a wild card spot in the West.
Whether the Canucks will really be contending for a playoff spot, or whether they’re set for a precipitous fall down the standings, will depend on how they prepare themselves for a tough schedule ahead. Vancouver will take on the Western Conference–leading Minnesota Wild in its next game at Rogers Arena on Saturday.
“I think we’re gonna have lots of games like that,” Desjardins said. “We’re gonna have to play good for 60, 65 minutes if we’re gonna win, and we didn’t tonight.”