winner as the Sharks stayed

VANCOUVER -- The San Jose Sharks have made beating the Vancouver Canucks a habit of late. Tre Boston Shirts . Thursday night was no different. Antti Niemi made 25 saves and Matt Pelechs first NHL goal stood up as the winner as the Sharks stayed perfect on the young season by downing the Canucks 4-1 for a ninth straight victory over their Pacific Division rivals. "It was a test for us to come on the road and play in this building again," said Sharks head coach Todd McClellan. "There werent any freebies. A good one for us to play in." Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Patrick Marleau and Brent Burns, into an empty net, also scored for the Sharks (4-0-0), who beat the Canucks 4-1 in both teams season opener after sweeping Vancouver four straight in the first round of last years playoffs. San Jose, which also won all three meetings during the 2013 regular season, has not lost to the Canucks (3-2-0) since Jan. 21, 2012. "Were just deep, were really, really deep and we want to come at you every night," said Sharks captain Joe Thornton, who along with Logan Couture, added two assists. "We have been doing that early on." The backbreaker was Marleaus goal that made it 3-1 midway through the second period. Despite trailing 2-0 after the first, the Canucks managed to cut the San Jose lead in half with Mike Santorellis fourth goal in three games at 10:20, only to see Marleau score on a one-timer just 95 seconds later. "No matter what happened or where we struggled, we crawl back into it (at) 2-1. We need to at least play with that for a little bit and not get scored on so quickly," said Canucks coach John Tortorella. "Really that was a gimme. We were just too slow. We turn it over when we dont need to and then we dont react defensively after the turnover." Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo held his team in with 25 stops, but said Vancouver needed a better start. "Obviously the first period hurt us. Weve made comebacks the last couple of games but against good teams like that its tough to get out of a hole," he said. "I thought our first period we were a little bit tentative. "Against a team like that you got to play 60 minutes if you want to give yourself a chance." Sharks forward Tomas Hertl, who became the talk of the NHL after scoring four times in Tuesdays 9-2 win over the New York Rangers, was held pointless but was still noticeable as part of a dominant San Jose first line that includes Thornton and Burns. San Jose led 3-1 after 40 minutes and had a good chance to extend the lead five minutes into the third, but Luongo kept Vancouver in it with a breakaway stop on Hertl. The Canucks, who had come back from two-goal deficits against the Calgary Flames and the New Jersey Devils, showed little life until midway through the period. Their new puck-pressure style eventually started to gain a bit of time in the Sharks zone, but they rarely threatened Niemis crease. "Youve got to give them some credit. Theyve got a good team over there, play a great system," said Canucks captain Henrik Sedin. "Youve going to have games like this where you have to win the one-on-one battles and we didnt do that enough." Vancouver pulled Luongo with 3:08 to go in the period, but Burns scored into an empty net with 2:19 to play. "They locked it down pretty well," said Tortorellla, whose team had just six shots in the third. "Its not like were playing against no one out there but we need to have more people going to play against a balanced team like that." Vlasic opened the scoring at 12:16 of the first period by finishing off a nice passing play. The San Jose defenceman took a feed from Burns off the rush in the high slot and snapped a shot blocker side on Luongo. Niemi came up big on a Vancouver power play later in the first, with big stops on both Alexander Edler and Jason Garrison. Luongo then stopped Burns on another good chance before Pelech doubled the Sharks lead with 58 second. The nephew of Vancouver general manager Mike Gillis chipped a pass from behind the Canucks net up into the top corner past Luongo. "It felt awesome," said the 26-year-old, who was playing in just his ninth NHL game. "It was a really good feeling to see that go in." Notes: The teams play twice more this season, Nov. 7 in San Jose and Nov. 14 in Vancouver. ... Santorelli, who scored the winner in the Canucks 3-2 overtime victory on Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils, wasnt credited with the goal Wednesday. The Burnaby, B.C., native is the first Vancouver player to record consecutive OT winners in franchise history. ... The Canucks host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday before heading out on a season-high seven-game road trip. San Jose is home to the Ottawa Senators the same night. ... Canucks right-winger Zack Kassian will be eligible to return to the lineup on Saturday after serving his eight-game suspension (three pre-season, five regular) after breaking the jaw of Edmonton Oilers centre Sam Gagner with a high stick. Trai Turner Panthers Jersey . Burke scored 20 points, including two 3-pointers in the final four minutes, and the Jazz beat the Phoenix Suns 112-104 on Saturday night. Kelvin Benjamin Panthers Jersey . Price pitched a five-hitter for his third complete game of the season, Wil Myers had a two-run single, and the surging Tampa Bay Rays won for the 19th time in 22 games by beating the Boston Red Sox 5-1 on Wednesday night.(SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Islanders have lost ground in the NHL playoff race during a five-game slide and the club may have more bad news coming down the pike. But first, the struggling club hopes to avoid a sixth consecutive setback on Tuesday when it visits the Washington Capitals at Verizon Center. Watch the Islanders vs. Capitals live tonight on TSN2 at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. In addition to posting an 0-4-1 record during its current slide, the Isles are also having difficulty convincing winger Thomas Vanek to stay with the club and New York may wind up trading the Austrian winger. According to a report Monday in Newsday, Vanek, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent in July, has turned down a "substantial contract offer" from the Isles. The report also says New York general manager Garth Snow is fielding offers from teams looking to acquire the 30-year-old forward. Vanek was acquired from Buffalo in a trade on Oct. 27 and he has 15 goals and 38 points in 41 games with the Islanders after becoming part of a formidable top line with John Tavares and Kyle Okposo. If Vanek is dealt by the Isles, it will turn out to be a costly rental for the club. New York sent winger Matt Moulson to the Sabres along with a first-round pick in this summers draft as well as a second-rounder in 2015 to land Vanek. The NHL trade deadline for this season is March 5. The Islanders went 10-3-0 from Dec. 29-Jan. 21 before losing five in a row. The clubs last two losses came against the rival New York Rangers, who posted a 2-1 regulation win over the Isles in last Wednesdays outdoor game at Yankee Stadium before notching a 4-1 home win Friday night at Madison Square Garden. Derick Brassard and Brad Richards scored less than three minutes apart in the third period to support a strong effort from Henrik Lundqvist in the Rangers win over the Isles at MSG. Okposo had the lone score for the struggling Islanders, while Evgeni Nabokov stopped 33-of-36 chances in defeat. "We just looked like we ran out of gas," Tavares said. "We just didnt seem to have that extra gear when we needed it." With 50 points, the Isles are currently 13th out of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference and 12 points out of a playoff spot. Including tonights tilt, New York has three games left before the NHL breaks for the Winter Olympics. Trai Turner Shirts. After visiting Washington on Tuesday, the Isles will host Calgary and Colorado on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. After losing seven in a row from Jan. 12-24, Washington has recorded three wins over its last five games and is 3-1-1 during that stretch. The Capitals split a home-and-home series with Detroit over the weekend, losing Fridays road portion against the Red Wings 4-3 in a shootout before taking Sundays wild 6-5 overtime decision at the Verizon Center. Alex Ovechkin scored a power-play goal 2:37 into overtime to lift the Capitals to Sundays entertaining matinee battle in D.C. Red Wings defenseman Brendan Smith was called for tripping at the 1:26 mark of the extra session. The Capitals moved the puck around and John Carlson fed Ovechkin for a one-timer from the left circle. Ovechkin has scored seven times over his last nine games and he is leading the NHL with 39 goals. His next goal will give Ovechkin 40 or more markers in a season for the sixth time in his career and for the first time since he posted 50 in 2009-10. Joel Ward registered two goals and one assist on Sunday and Jason Chimera added a goal and two helpers for the Capitals, who overcame blowing a trio of two-goal leads to win for the third time in their last 12 games. "We came out great and they never gave up; they are a really good hockey team," said Washington head coach Adam Oates. Michal Neuvirth picked up the win despite surrendering five goals on 30 shots. The Capitals expect to be without defenseman Mike Green for a third straight game after he suffered a concussion last week against Columbus. Green tried to practice on Monday, but he left for the dressing room after 10 minutes. Washington forwards Mikhail Grabovski (sprained left ankle), Brooks Laich (groin), Eric Fehr (lower body) and Aaron Volpatti (upper body) are also questionable for tonights contest. The Caps, who are three points out of a playoff spot in the East, are 2-0 against the Islanders this season and have won three straight and five of the past seven games in this series. Washington is 8-2-1 in the past 11 encounters in D.C. ' ' '