San Jose Sharks Win in Overtime over Canucks 2-1

In Claude Lemieux's first NHL game in 5 1/2 years, everyone on San Jose but Lemieux seemed to be asleep for 50 of the 60 regulation minutes.  But the Sharks woke up and tied the game after pulling their goaltender in the third, and an overtime power play resulted in Marleau's game winning goal.

Claude Lemieux skated hard and shot even harder, but the rest of his team seemed dead on the ice as Vancouver dominated them in the first period.  The Sharks had more shots on goals and a slight time of possession edge, but the Canucks were winning battles to the loose puck and putting on an aggressive forecheck in the San Jose zone.  The hard work paid off, as Henrik Sedin found Taylor Pyatt in the high slot, and Pyatt blasted the puck high past Evgeni Nabokov's glove for the first goal of the game.  Then, the Vancouver Canucks played defensively.  For the next 40 minutes of the game, there was rarely any Canuck on the San Jose defensive zone, as they stacked the neutral zone with 5 skaters to prevent the San Jose rush.  It worked, as the Sharks were limited in chances and could only throw weak shots against Roberto Luongo, who had a strong game in his third game back since returning from injury.  The Sharks were often recovering pucks from their own defensive end after a Canuck skater had cleared it, and the game went on like this for quite a while.  Vancouver had several opportunities to put the game away, including a breakaway by Mats Sundin as he skated past Douglas Murray, but Nabokov kept San Jose in the game throughout.  The situation was worsened when the Sharks were 0/3 on the power play after scoring 2 power play goals against Detroit on Saturday.  But in the last minute, San Jose was forced to pull Nabokov, and the extra skater seemed to apply the forecheck pressure the Sharks needed.  Vancouver never cleared the puck out of their zone, and after several good scoring chances, Joe Thorton found Devin Setoguchi with a cross ice path for the game tying goal with 39 seconds left in the game.  Then, after the Canucks missed a scoring chance with a shot off the net in overtime, Dan Boyle drew a roughing penalty, after several weren't called throughout the game.  Vancouver won the faceoff in their zone but Joe Pavelski kept the clearing attempt in the zone.  Patrick Marleau then scored the game winning goal similar to Setoguchi's: from the high slot after several good scoring chances were blocked by Luongo but never cleared away.  At the end of the game, Vancouver's Shane O'Brien instigated some rough play with Jody Shelley, which drew out the entire Sharks' bench and Vancouver's first line, but no fights were started.

The Sharks pulled 5 points ahead of Detroit in the Western Conference as the Red Wings lost against Phoenix, but the real story was the debut of Claude Lemieux.  He skated strong on the Shark's "energy" fourth line, which was the only line that seemed to be in sync throughout the game.  He had a little over 7 minutes of ice time, and registered 3 shots on goal, 2 of which were whistlers that Luongo had to fight off.  This is the Shark's last game before the All-Star Break, where they will be represented by Joe Thorton, Dan Boyle, coach Todd McLellon, and a late add-in of Patrick Marleau.  It will be Dan Boyle's first appearance in the All-Star Game, and Todd McLellon will become only the second rookie coach to be a head coach in the event.