Patrick Marleau gets 500th NHL goal in Sharks win

VANCOUVER -- Patrick Marleau said Thursday morning that he didn't want to wait long to score his 500th NHL goal, and he didn't.
Marleau reached the milestone
with a power-play goal 9:30 into the game to help the San Jose Sharks defeat the Vancouver Canucks 4-1 at Rogers Arena on Thursday.
"Yeah, that'll do, getting it right away," said Marleau, who scored No. 499 in a 3-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. "It was good to get it out of the way."

WATCH: All Sharks vs. Canucks highlights
Marleau took a cross-ice pass from Joe Pavelski and beat goalie Ryan Miller from the left faceoff dot to become the 45th player in NHL history to score 500 goals, all with the Sharks.
"
When you hit a mark like this
, you just start thinking about everybody who's kind of helped you along the way," Marleau said. "Playing with one club and playing with a lot of guys for a lot of years on this team, it means a lot to share that with them and see how happy they are for you. Things are going good now. We're on a roll. It couldn't come at a better time."

Chris Tierney scored twice, Brent Burns had a goal and an assist, and Martin Jones made 33 saves for the Sharks (33-17-2), who are 8-1-0 in their past nine games and have won nine straight in Vancouver.
Getting contributions from everyone has been a big part of San Jose's recent success.
"We got so many superstars, Hall of Famers," Tierney said. "It kind of raises everybody's game and all four lines want to live up to those expectations and standard they set."
Philip Larsen scored, and Miller made 28 saves for the Canucks (23-22-6), who lost in regulation for the first time in nine games at Rogers Arena (7-1-1), dating to Dec. 22.
After falling behind 2-0 on Tierney's goal with 4:01 left in the first period, the Canucks created lots of good chances in the second, forcing Jones to make a couple great saves to keep it 2-0.

"We were a little bit sluggish in the first," Canucks forward Daniel Sedin said. "After that, I thought we played a good enough game to get a few points. We couldn't bury the chances."
Burns scored 53 seconds into the third period to make it 3-0.
"It was a big goal for us. We were reeling a little bit," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said.
Larsen scored his first goal of the season 6:35 into the third period on a slap shot that bounced in off Sharks defenseman Paul Martin, cutting the San Jose lead to 3-1.
Tierney scored his sixth of the season on the power play with 5:19 left to make it 4-1.

Goal of the game

Burns came out from behind his own net and spotted Pavelski at the far blue line for a 2-on-1 with Marleau, and there seemed to be little doubt he would score the milestone goal when Pavelski's pass came across the ice. "We had a really good view from the bench," Tierney said. "When [Pavelski] passed it over, you could kind of see it was going to be a goal; he had the whole net and he's been so hot lately, he's been burying those every chance he gets."

Save of the game

Canucks forward Alexandre Burrows was all alone in front of the Sharks net, but Jones stopped his wrist shot on a spin move with 1:38 left in the second period, and then denied his rebound attempt. "We got a little sloppy in the second and third, and Jones was our best player," DeBoer said.

Unsung performance of the game

Defenseman Justin Braun had five of the Sharks' 21 blocked shots in 20:01 of ice time.

Highlight of the game

Burns pinched down toward the net to one-touch a pass from Tomas Hertl from below the goal line over Miller from in close. "He's got a knack for that. He's always up in the play, always looking for a hole, and he's a hard guy to contain because he's all over the ice," DeBoer said.

They said it

"The biggest thing for me is just seeing all my teammates and even getting congratulated by some of the guys on the other team. It's pretty special." -- Sharks forward Patrick Marleau on his 500th NHL goal
"Most guys won't get to 500 games, [so] to get 500 goals, it's just an incredible feat." -- Sharks defenseman Brent Burns on Patrick Marleau scoring his 500th NHL goal
"The first period was not good enough. If you are down in this league, it's tough to come back." -- Canucks forward Daniel Sedin after falling behind 2-0 and being outshot 13-6

Need to know

Marleau is the first player to score 500 goals for the Sharks, 17th in NHL history to score his first 500 with one team. ... San Jose forward Joonas Donskoi missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury. DeBoer said he's likely a week away from returning to the lineup. … Canucks forward Jannik Hansen, who has missed 16 games with a sprained knee, hopes to return against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. … Burns' 22 goals and 55 points lead NHL defensemen.

What's next

Sharks:Host the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday (10:30 p.m. ET; CSN-CA, FS-A, NHL.TV)
Canucks: Host the Minnesota Wild on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, FS-N, NHL.TV)