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 Goalie Ryan Miller stopped 34 shots to log his league-leading
11th win as the Canucks won 3-2 on Thursday. The Sharks, meanwhile,
were turned away after thinking they had tied the game at the horn.
Center Joe Thornton's shot crossed the goal-line after time had
expired following a review. The call on the ice was a good goal.
"It was one of those things where you couldn't really tell,"
Thornton said. "Only if we had another half second I think we could
have been alright."
"I knew time was going to expire, which was maybe why I got myself a
little out of position trying to seal against a bank shot from my
left," Miller said. "And then they threw it off our guy across, and
then I was stuck. I got fortunate that we ran out of time to play
and it worked out in our favor."
Much earlier, the Canucks scored on consecutive shots nearly five
minutes apart late in the second period to take the one-goal lead
they would nurse through the final period.
"You have to find a way to get two points," Canucks right winger
Radim Vrbata said. "Playing here it's tough. First 10 minutes we
have to survive those 10 minutes then you give yourself a chance."
 Defenseman Alex Edler stepped into a slap shot from the right point
that beat San Jose goalie Antti Niemi for a power-play goal at 12:45
to draw the visitors even 2-2. San Jose right winger Tyler Kennedy
was guilty of a high stick to give the visitors their first and only
man-advantage of the game.
Then, after Vancouver left winger Alex Burrows blocked a shot,
linemate Nick Bonino skated around San Jose's stickless Tomas Hertl
and beat Niemi with a low shot far side at 17:20.
"There was kind of a switch in the game, I don't know when it was,
but they started to get pucks deep," Sharks right winger Tyler
Kennedy said. "That's what we needed to do in the second and third,
get pucks deep and work their D."
The Sharks, who came in waves for the first 10 minutes of the
period, converted on their third power-play opportunity at 10:43 to
take a 2-1 lead. Center Logan Couture capped a tic-tac-toe passing
play to score his team-leading seventh goal.
But Vrbata scored with just 7.7 seconds left in the opening period
to enable the Canucks to tie the score 1-1 before the first
intermission. Vrbata's sixth goal, and first in six games, slipped
under the right arm of Niemi, who was making his fifth straight
start.
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The hosts broke on top at 10:26 when center James Sheppard scored
his second goal of the season and second in as many games. A Hertl
pass into the slot caromed off Sheppard's skate with Miller out of
position.
"I thought early in the game we were prepared to work for the puck a
little more (and) forecheck," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said.
"Later on in the game we tried to make some cute plays at the blue
line and it worked into their favor."
NOTES: Veteran RW Tyler Kennedy made his season debut for San Jose
on Thursday. Kennedy, 28, battled an upper-body injury that forced
him to miss all but one preseason game. To make room for Kennedy's
return, the Sharks demoted rookie C Chris Tierney to Worchester of
the AHL. Tierney skated in 11 of the team's first 13 games, and
collected two assists but no goals. Tierney, 20, was a minus-2 while
averaging almost 12 minutes per game mostly centering a third line.
... C Nick Bonino centered Vancouver's second line after taking the
morning skate off as he continued rest after blocking a shot in
Denver on Tuesday. ... The Sharks embark on a seven-game trip,
starting with a game in Dallas on Saturday, to cap an opening-season
stretch of 16 of 21 on the road. ... The Canucks finish a four-game
trip with stops in Los Angeles and Anaheim on Saturday and Sunday,
respectively. ... LW John Scott, LW Tye McGinn and D Matt Irwin were
San Jose's healthy scratches. D Yannick Weber (healthy) and RW Zack
Kassian (lower-body injury) did not dress for Vancouver.
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