Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Jerry Feitelberg

The San Jose Sharks knew the top players not amongst the injured would need to perform Thursday night if they’d like to escape with a win over the Vancouver Canucks at the SAP Center on Wednesday night. The big name players all pitched in, but the depth pieces also helped out with San Jose down Joe Thornton and now Tomas Hertl as well.

Martin Jones made a season-high 43 saves and Brent Burns registered a two-point night to lead the Sharks to a 4-1 win over the Canucks at home. Mikkel Boedker scored for the second consecutive game and depth pieces Chris Tierney and recent call-up Marcus Sorensen also lit the lamp for San Jose. Long-time lineup stalwart Daniel Sedin scored for Vancouver.

Mikkel Boedker started the Sharks scoring 8:41 into play, beating netminder Anders Nilsson for his ninth goal of the year in second in as many games. Chris Tierney and former Canuck Jannik Hansen assisted on the strike.

The Sharks second goal came from Brent Burns, who happened to be playing his natural defense at the time. Like in the loss to Arizona, Burns saw some time at wing, starting the game on the opposite side of Timo Meier with Joe Pavelski centering the top line. After a period of ineffectiveness, coach Peter DeBoer moved Burns back to the blue line. Burns responded by ripping one of his patented bombs that beat Nilsson 4:47 into the second period.

The Sharks escaped the second period leading 2-0 after Jones, a North Vancouver native, stood on his head in the middle stanza. The keeper turned aside 22 shots, the highest single period total of the season.

The goalie would be rewarded early in the third after recent San Jose Barracuda call up Marcus Sorensen unleashed a downright filthy wrist shot, beating Nilsson 3:06 into the third. Vancouver would answer back though, finally cracking through Jones 6:43 into the final frame on Daniel Sedin’s 14th goal of the season.

Burns, now firmly locked in as a defenseman, rewarded his coach again for returning him to his natural position with 7:27 left in regulation. Burns snaked a perfect pass to Chris Tierney who was waiting on the far post. Tierney redirected the puck into the neat for his 14th goal of the year. Boedker also picked up an assist for a two-point night for the Dane.

All wasn’t positive for the Sharks though, as the power play struggled again with two key cogs in Thornton and Hertl missing. San Jose went 0-3 Thursday night after going 0-for-4 Tuesday night against Arizona. The penalty killing unit was a perfect 1-for-1.

Next up for San Jose is a visit from Tyler Seguin and the Dallas Stars. After that, Team Teal hits the road for four straight games against Central Division foes. With a win Thursday, San Jose will enter that stretch still two points ahead of the Calgary Flames for second place in the Pacific Division.