Patrick Marleau had a goal and two assists for the San Jose Sharks, who stretched their winning streak to three games with a 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.
Marleau's 42nd goal gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead with 10:31 left in the second. Joe Pavelski scored two minutes later, and Ryan Clowe added an empty-netter with 11 seconds left to make it 4-2. Dany Heatley also scored for San Jose.
The Sharks (46-19-10) have bounced back from a five-game losing streak that dropped them out of first place in the Pacific Division. They moved back atop the division and the Western Conference on Thursday when they beat Dallas.
San Jose goalie Evengi Nabokov earned his 40th win of the season. He made 35 saves and has allowed only three goals during the winning streak.
Vancouver's Henrik Sedin, the NHL scoring leader, had two assists to push his point total to 101.
The Sharks' have 102 points, a two-point division lead over Phoenix, and a three-point edge over Chicago in the race for the top seed in the Western playoffs.
The Canucks, who are stellar at home, fell to 18-18-2 on the road. Vancouver didn't lose any ground in the Northwest Division because Colorado lost to Phoenix. The Canucks have 94 points, five more than Colorado. Vancouver has seven games remaining. Colorado will play eight.
Heatley tied the game 1-1 in the second period when he scored a power-play goal with 16:59 left. It was Heatley 39th goal of the season, 18th on the power play.
Alexandre Burrows tallied his 34th goal of the season in the first period to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead. Sedin earned his 100th point with an assist.
It is just the fourth time a Canucks player has tallied 100 points, and the first since Markus Naslund did it in the 2002-03 season. The assist was his career-best 72nd.
Sedin's twin brother, Daniel, made it 3-2 when he scored with 12:05 remaining -- assisted by Henrik.
NOTES: Sharks C Joe Thornton left the game at the end of the second period due to an undisclosed injury and didn't return. ... D Jay Leach and LW Jamie McGinn were healthy scratches for the Sharks. ... Canucks RW Pavel Demitra missed the game because of personal reasons. Defencemen Andrew Alberts and Nolan Baumgarthner. ... Sharks C Scott Nichol returned to the lineup after missing two games because of an upper body injury. ... Vancouver's remaining three road games will be played in California.
