Sharks a handful for backup Canucks goalie in 6-2 win

VANCOUVER, British Columbia- The San Jose Sharks took advantage of a back-up goaltender making his first start of the season Tuesday night, showing signs that maybe San Jose has turned the page on the calendar and on the ice.

San Jose scored three goals on its first four shots against Vancouver Canuck netminder Jacob Markstrom en route to a 6-2 victory that gave them two wins in two March games after a miserable February.

Chris Tierney, Melker Karlsson and Logan Couture provided the early scoring and two goals by Matt Nieto-one into an open net-iced the win with Marc-Edouard Vlasic later hitting the empty net as well. Henrik Sedin scored twice for the Canucks, but those were the only two shots that got past Sharks goalie Antti Niemi.

Coming off a strong 4-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens 24 hours earlier, the Sharks were looking for their first pair of consecutive wins since Jan. 31. But coach Todd McLellan noted his team had no shortage or motivating factors.

'That,' he said before the game, 'and a lot of other reasons, the standings included.'

With the Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings both winning Tuesday night, the Sharks needed the victory to stay even with the two teams that are tied with them in the Pacific Division standings, but have two games in hand.

Markstrom was called up last week from the Utica Comets of the AHL after Vancouver starter Ryan Miller suffered a serious leg injury and Eddie Lack was moved up a notch into that role.

Lack was 1-1 but had given up 11 goals in his two starts since Miller was injured and Canucks coach Willie Desjardins wanted to see what Markstrom, 25, could do in his 48th NHL start.

Desjardins didn't get a long look, though, as the Sharks ended Markstrom's night early with three goals on their first four shots.

San Jose scored on its first shot at 3:03 when Barclay Goodrow pressured Canucks defenseman Yannicl Weber to cough up the puck along the boards in his own zone and Tierney capitalized by beating Markstrom high on the far side.

Karlsson made it 2-0 at 7:18 when a shot by Matt Irwin hit high on the glass and bounced to the front of the Vancouver net. The Sharks rookie was flattened in the scramble, but managed to sweep the puck into the net while flat on the ice.

On the next shift, Markstrom did make a save on a shot by Matt Nieto, but the rebound went straight to Couture in the left circle and he fired it into the net just 27 seconds after Karlsson's goal to give San Jose a 3-0 lead.

At that point Lack replaced Markstrom.

Vancouver showed the game wasn't over yet with Henrik Sedin's two goals in the first half of the second period.

The first game on a power play that had 1:32 left after Irwin shot the puck over the glass late in the first period. A shot by Radim Vrbata was blocked by defenseman Brenden Dillon, but the puck found its way to Henrik Sedin and he beat Niemi with a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle at 1:01.

Sedin got his second at 9:12 when his brother Daniel threaded a pass to him just to the right of the Sharks net and he tucked it in before Niemi could get into position.

San Jose showed resilience, however, and Lack needed to extend his left pad full length to block a shot by Patrick Marleau a little more than two minutes later. But Marleau stuck with the play and found Nieto all alone in the slot. Nieto only had one goal in his previous 29 games, but he beat Lack at 11:45 and the Sharks had a little breathing room at 4-2.

The only goals in the third period were into an empty Vancouver net.