Logan Couture had his first NHL hat tricks to lead the San Jose Sharks to a 4-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Tuesday. Couture put the Sharks ahead 2-1 when he scored with 11 seconds left in the second period, had a 5-on-3 power-play goal with 5:59 left in the third and hit the empty net with 16.4 seconds left to seal the Canucks' ninth straight loss.
Joe Pavelski scored in the second period and James Reimer made 23 saves for the Sharks, who moved within two points of the Anaheim Ducks for second place in the Pacific Division. San Jose is three points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the division lead. San Jose, which hosts the Canucks on Thursday, has played 77 games, one more than the Kings and two more than the Ducks.
Chris Higgins scored shorthanded and Jacob Markstrom made 27 saves for the Canucks, who are 0-8-1 in their past nine games and are tied with the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs for the fewest points in the NHL.
San Jose clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 5-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, didn't arrive in Vancouver until 2 a.m., and was outshot 13-4 by the Canucks during the first 19 minutes. But Reimer kept the game scoreless with great glove saves on Sven Baertschi and Alexandre Burrows, and Pavelski opened the scoring 20 seconds into the second period after Markstrom punched a rebound to him in the slot with his blocker.
San Jose had a chance to extend the lead on a five-minute power play after Canucks forward Jake Virtanen was given a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct for a late hit on Roman Polak. Instead Higgins tied it on a 2-on-1 with 40 seconds left in the penalty, keeping the puck and beating Reimer over the glove from the left faceoff dot.
It was Higgins' first goal since Nov. 8 and his first point in six games since being recalled after spending two months in the American Hockey League. But Couture made it 2-1 shortly before the second period ended. He lost the puck while trying to bring it out from behind the net, but Nick Spaling, back in the lineup in place of an injured Joel Ward, kicked it right back to Couture; he kicked it from his skate to his stick, pulled it around Markstrom's right pad and tucked it inside the far post. Couture scored his second goal 44 seconds into a lengthy two-man advantage, beating Markstrom between the legs after being left alone in the slot. Ward was a late scratch but coach Peter DeBoer said it is "nothing major."
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