SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Alexander Mogilny had two goals and an assist and Corey Hirsch turned aside 27 shots for his first win in two months as the Vancouver Canucks coasted to a 6-1 rout of the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.
Martin Gelinas and Trevor Linden each added a goal and an assist and Pavel Bure and Russ Courtnall also scored for Vancouver, which won for just the third time in nine games.
"Mogilny has been a mystery to me," Vancouver coach Tom Renney said. "When he's been on the bench, he's shown a lot of intensity, but it hasn't always shown in his scoring. One thing we can't do is be complacent, but that's been our problem this season."
Mogilny, who once scored 76 goals in a season, leads the Canucks with 26 this season but is still off his pace of 55 goals last season.
"I had a couple of good chances to score and took advantage of them. It hasn't happened that much this season," Mogilny said.
The Canucks, who converted three of five power-play opportunities, have won three of four meetings with the Sharks this season.
"I think as a group a our defense played probably one of their stronger games of the year," Renney said. "They deflected the attack to the outside and there weren't lot of second-shot opportunities. I thought our transition game was pretty good, they had some poise back there."
Hirsch carried a shutout into the third period before Tony Granato's fluke power-play goal at 3:52 pulled San Jose within 4-1. Granato's centering pass from the right corner hit defenseman Adrian Aucoin's skate and deflected past Hirsch.
Hirsch had lost his last five decisions since his last victory Dec. 20.
"It seems like forever," Hirsch said about his drought between wins. "(Goaltending coach) Glen Hanlon has been really helping me over the past few months and it's really helped. It's a big lift, not only because we won, but six goals for us is pretty good, especially for a team that has had trouble scoring. "
Wade Flaherty allowed six goals on 29 shots as the Sharks fell to 1-5-1 in their last seven games. Flaherty has surrendered 19 goals in losing his first three decisions this season.
"We had nothing tonight, it looked like after the first period we were saying to ourselves, we're probably not going to get a goal tonight," San Jose coach Al Sims said. "We knew the importance of the game, they got in front of us and we ended up chasing them all night."
Linden got the Canucks rolling with his sixth goal of the season, a power-play tally with 9:35 left in the opening period. He threw the puck in front from the left corner and it hit Flaherty's stick blade and caromed into the net. The goal was Linden's first since Nov. 26.
"I know that wasn't the same team that beat Dallas Tuesday," said San Jose center Bernie Nicholls. "We were undisciplined not penalty-wise, but playing-wise. I think they had three breakaways and probably two or three two-on-ones and that's not playing smart."
Gelinas' 18th goal, with 5:09 remaining in the first period, doubled the lead. While laying on his stomach behind the net, Mogilny passed in front to a cutting Gelinas, who one-timed a shot past Flaherty.
Gelinas has points in five of his last six games with seven goals and three assists.
Vancouver extended its lead to 3-0 just over nine minutes into the second period as Courtnall finished off a two-on-one break with Mike Ridley for his eighth goal, a power-play tally.
Mogilny beat Flaherty between the pads on a breakaway at 1:46 of the third period for his first goal of the game and 25th of the season.
After Granato's tally got San Jose on the board, Bure capped a
breakaway with his 23rd goal, making it 5-1. It was his first
goal in seven games. Mogilny's second of the contest, a
power-play marker with 5:23 remaining, closed the scoring.
Jon's 3 stars:
1. Alexander Mogilny
2. Corey Hirsch
3. Martin Gelinas
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