Kane scores twice as Sharks rout Canucks

Penguins end bad run

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb 12, (AP): Evander Kane scored twice, leading the San Jose Sharks to a 7-2 rout of the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night.

The victory moves San Jose into first place in the Western Conference and extends the Sharks’ winning streak to six games.

Timo Meier, Melker Karlsson, Tomas Hertl, Kevin Lebanc and Joe Pavelski also scored for the Sharks. Martin Jones had 25 saves.

Bo Horvat and Derrick Pouliot scored for Vancouver. Mike DiPietro stopped 17 of 24 shots in his NHL debut.

The 19-year-old native of Amherstburg, Ontario, was called up from the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s on an emergency basis last week after Canucks backup Thatcher Demko was sidelined with a knee sprain.

Jacob Markstrom, the team’s starting goalie, was slated to start on Monday but was scratched as a precaution due to tightness in his lower body.

DiPietro struggled early, letting in the first shot of the game after Canucks defenseman Erik Gudbranson failed to corral the puck behind the net.

Logan Couture collected the puck and dished it to Meier, who fired it past DiPietro 1:04 into the first period.

The Sharks added another goal just minutes later off a high shot by Kane. Vancouver defenseman Ben Hutton attempted to punch the puck out of the air in front of the net, but instead sent it in off of DiPietro.

When Karlsson added San Jose’s third goal 8:48 into the opening frame, the Canucks had yet to register a shot.

Despite a slow start, Vancouver seemed to find its way late in the first, tying up the Sharks in their own

San Jose Sharks’ Kevin Labanc (bottom), scores against Vancouver Canucks goalie Michael DiPietro during the second period of an NHL hockey game on Feb 11, in Vancouver, British Columbia. (AP)

end.

With just seconds left on the clock, rookie Elias Pettersson sliced a pass to Horvat down low. The center hammered a slap shot past Jones to put the Canucks on the board.

Vancouver out shot San Jose 13-5 in the second period, but the Sharks added goals from Kane, Hertl and Lebanc. Lebanc’s tally came from a 2-on-1 in which Joe Thornton drew DiPietro across the crease before dishing off to the right-winger.

The assist was the 1,050th of Thornton’s career. He passed Gordie Howe for ninth place on the league’s all-time assists list.

It was also the 39-year-old center’s 1,457th NHL point, tying Teemu Selanne for 15th place on the alltime points list.

Vancouver’s second goal came from Pouliot 12:06 into the third. Zack MacEwen assisted on the play. It was the 22-year-old’ MacEwen’s first NHL point and came in his league debut. He was called up from the American Hockey League’s Uti- ca Comets on Sunday.

Pavelski added the final goal of the game less than two minutes later.

In Philadelphia, Matt Murray made 50 saves and Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Jake Guentzel and Nick Bjugstad also scored and Kris Letang had an empty-netter for the Penguins, who snapped a four-game losing streak while winning for just the fourth time in the last 12. Pittsburgh entered holding the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Jakub Voracek scored for Philadelphia, which lost for just the sec- ond time in 11 games. The Flyers could’ve pulled within four points of Pittsburgh with a victory, but now stand eight points behind the Penguins.

Flyers rookie goalie Carter Hart had his eight-game win streak halted, falling one game shy of setting an NHL record for consecutive victories prior to turning 21 years old. The 20-year-old also finished a game short of tying Pelle Lindbergh for the Flyers’ rookie record for wins in a row. Hart had 24 saves.

In Washington, Evgeny Kuznetsov had two goals and two assists to lead Washington over Los Angeles.

Alex Ovechkin scored his NHLleading 38th goal and had two assists and Brett Connolly, Christian Djoos and Jakub Vrana scored for the Capitals, who won for the third time in four games.

Kings goalie Jonathan Quick allowed six goals on 31 shots behind some uneven defense. Austin Wagner scored twice and Tyler Toffoli and Oscar Fantenberg each had a goal for Los Angeles, which went 3-2-1 on its six-game trip.