The San Jose Sharks began their final homestand of the season with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks at SAP Center Tuesday.
The Sharks wasted absolutely no time getting on the board for a 2-0 lead in the first 30 seconds of the opening period. They beat their previous record of 47 seconds.
Kevin Labanc collected a faceoff from Joe Pavelski, spun around and fired the puck top-shelf to beat Richard Bachman just 18 seconds into the period. With his eighth goal of the season, Labanc ended a 29-game goalless drought dating back to December 31, 2016.
“It was a good goal,” Labanc said when asked about his first tally since New Year’s Eve.
Joel Ward teed up a slap shot that found the net off the post, beating Bachman for his ninth goal of the season 12 seconds later.
The Sharks controlled the tempo for most of the period. They outshot the Canucks 10-6 and led 2-0 after 20 minutes.
The Canucks almost scored a goal, but the officials reviewed the play and the puck crossed the goal line. Also, the defender collided into Martin Jones.
Shots were 20-18 in favor of the Canucks, but the Sharks held onto a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes.
The Canucks cut the lead in half early in the third period as Christopher Tanev picked up a pass from Brock Boeser and fired it into the net, beating Jones for his second goal of the season.
The Sharks went ahead 3-1 at 10:42 when Brent Burns set up Chris Tierney, who tipped in the shot for his 10th goal of the season — his first in 15 games.
The Sharks (45-28-7) beat the Canucks (30-39-9) by a score of 3-1 for their second consecutive win, sweeping the season series. Jones finished with 33 saves in the San Jose victory.
“I feel better after the win,” Jones said. “But again, I don’t think I was far up, I don’t think I was playing my best.”
Bachman made 22 saves in a losing effort for Vancouver.
“The start was spot-on,” captain Joe Pavelski said when asked about the Sharks’ start. “It was the kind of start that we wanted.”
“Yeah, we won, that’s about all I can say,” DeBoer recalled. “I thought we played well the first couple minutes of the game…We played well at the end, the last five or six minutes, but in between, we weren’t at our best…So obviously we need to ask “why?” and work from there.”
Analysis
The Sharks need more offensive production throughout their lineup. The top line of Pavelski, Labanc and Patrick Marleau isn’t enough to carry the team to success. The second line of Jannik Hansen, Tomas Hertl and Mikkel Boedker needs to step their game up.
Notes
Scratched: Dylan DeMelo, Michael Haley
Injured: Logan Couture (face), Joe Thornton (knee)
DeBoer told NHL.com that both Couture and Thornton remain day-to-day.
Canucks forward and former Shark Nikolay Goldobin played his former team for the first time since they traded him to Vancouver on February 28 for forward Jannik Hansen and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft.
Chris Tierney played in his 200th NHL game.
Up Next
The Sharks continue their homestand with a game against the Edmonton Oilers (44-26-9) Thursday at 7:30 p.m. PST on NBCS CA+ and SNW.
