VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Markus Naslund snapped a 13-game goalless drought with a pair of power-play tallies as the Vancouver Canucks routed the San Jose Sharks 6-1 Monday night, in a game that was postponed because of a blizzard that crippled the city Dec. 29.
Kirk McLean made 26 saves and Pavel Bure also scored on the power play for Vancouver, which was three for seven with the man advantage and improved to 5-2-1 in its last seven games.
"I've had a tough time scoring, but things went my way today," Naslund said. "We wanted to show the crowd what we could do coming back from the break. It's been a long time, I'm glad to get one or two. They played well in the first and after that we played harder and they were kind of flat. The power play was a big key tonight for us."
Ulf Dahlen scored his eighth goal of the season with 2:18 left in the first period, lifting the Sharks into a 1-1 tie.
But San Jose's Vlastimil Kroupa took a holding penalty at 18:15 and Naslund's first goal of the game five seconds later gave Vancouver the lead for good. After a faceoff, Naslund grabbed a loose puck and whipped a wrist shot past goaltender Kelly Hrudey from the edge of the right circle for his 11th goal of the season.
"I think in the second they had 15 chances, Kelly stopped 10, but they scored five, we just broke down," San Jose's Owen Nolan said. "We did have a game plan and we outshot them in the first, but in the second we didn't show."
San Jose failed in its attempt to win a season-high third straight game.
"Coming off the All-Star break we thought we'd play much better," San Jose coach Al Sims said. "We have to play much better to challenge for a playoff spot. I think we left our effort on vacation. They started taking it to us and we disappeared, this was clearly our worst game of the year."
Bure's 19th goal 2:56 into the second period extended Vancouver's lead to 3-1. Bure moved into the offensive zone with three San Jose defenders back and unleashed a low slap shot through a screen.
Dave Babych's fourth goal at 8:26 made it 4-1 and Esa Tikkanen, who was reportedly considering sitting out because he's unhappy with his contract status, scored his ninth with 4:58 left in the second to push the advantage to 5-1.
"I like to get one every now and again, it's my job to provide a little entertainment for the guys on the bench," Babych said. "I know it's been a while, that's for sure."
Naslund capped the scoring with his second goal of the contest 5:48 into the third period.
Martin Gelinas gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead with his 10th goal of the year at 1:51 of the first period. The goal was his 250th career point.
Jon's 3 stars:
1. Kirk McLean
2. Esa Tikkanen
3. Dana Murzyn
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