Vancouver Canucks’ Alexander Edler, left, of Sweden, and San Jose Sharks’ Mikkel Boedker, of Denmark, compete for the puck during the third period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, April 2, 2017, in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP

By Barbara Mason

The San Jose Sharks have got to start playing better, it’s as simple as that. With four games left in the regular season the team is in real trouble unless they can get their defense going and improve on their grim 15% power play success. They cannot go into the playoffs playing like this if they expect to have a viable run. Beating the Vancouver Canucks Sunday afternoon would be a step in the right direction.

Vancouver is officially eliminated from the playoffs but there isn’t a team out there that doesn’t enjoy playing spoiler, especially when they have been dominated all year by the Sharks. San Jose came out in this game playing with a purpose. At 11:00 Tomas Hertl scored his 9th goal of the season assisted by Mikkel Boedker and Jannik Hansen for the early 1-0 lead. Less than two minutes later, Hertl would score his tenth goal of the season to give San Jose a 2-0 lead. He was assisted by Marc-Edouard Vlasic. The first period would come to an end with the Sharks maintaining that 2-0 lead. There was some concern when Joe Thornton left the ice late in the period after a nasty collision on the boards. An apparent leg injury had not been updated and word was anxiously awaited as to his condition.

As the second period got underway there was no sight of Thornton. His return to the game was listed as questionable. There was no scoring for either team in the period as San Jose adjusted to line changes due to the Thornton injury.

The Canucks turned up the heat as the third period was winding down. They would score at 16:07 off the stick of Sven Baertsch for his 18th goal of the season pulling within one goal of a tie. At the two minute mark Vancouver pulled their goalie. They were unable to score and gave up an empty net goal at 19:57. It was Patrick Marleau’s 27th goal of the season. The final was 3-1.

The win was a great thing for San Jose but was overshadowed by the exit of Joe Thornton and the uncertainty of his status. “Obviously we don’t want our big guy to go down,” said Patrick Marleau after the game. Marleau was happy with the effort in this game because he knows what they are in for in the playoffs.

The Sharks will finish the season at home for their final three games taking on Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. Tuesday night they take on Vancouver one more time hoping to sweep them this season. The puck drops at 7:30.