Pearson leads Canucks past Sharks and into 1st in Central

Tanner Pearson scored on power play and had an assist as Vancouver Canucks defeated San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Saturday night.

Loui Eriksson, J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes also scored for Canucks, who won for 11th time in 14 games and extended ir home winning streak to eight games. victory also moved Canucks into first place in tight Pacific Division with 58 points, one more than Edmonton, Calgary, Vegas and Arizona.

Jake Virtanen and Adam Gaudette, playing in his 100th NHL game, each had two assists for Vancouver, who outshot Sharks 38-17. Thatcher Demko, making his third start in last 19 games, stopped 16 shots.

Barclay Goodrow scored for Sharks, who lost ir third consecutive game. Aaron Dell made 35 saves.

Pearson gave Canucks a 2-0 lead at 5:01 of third period when he deflected a shot by Virtanen past Dell.

Sharks finally showed some life when Goodrow scored off a scramble at 7:09. Hughes restored Vancouver’s two-goal lead just 37 seconds later when his shot from blue line ended up in net.

Miller made it 4-1 off a pretty pass from Virtanen on a 2-on-1 at 15:27.

Canucks outshot Sharks 27-7 after two periods, including 18-4 in second, but led just 1-0.

Eriksson’s goal came at 14:05 of second. Pearson whiffed a shot that sent puck trickling to net. Eriksson lifted stick of San Jose defenseman Erik Karlsson, n batted puck behind Dell for his fifth goal of season.

San Jose challenged, arguing Vancouver was offside. goal was upheld on video review and San Jose was assessed a penalty, but Canucks failed to score on power play.

Vancouver peppered Dell with shots. San Jose goaltender made a nice save off Pearson on doorstep. He also got lucky when Elias Pettersson rifled a shot off post and Miller deflected puck just high.

In first period, Gaudette had a breakaway but shot puck into Dell’s chest. Defenseman Tyler Myers had a partial breakaway, but shot wide.

TES: Canucks captain Bo Horvat anunced on social media that he and his wife are expecting a baby. ... Vancouver’s longest home-ice winning streak was 11 games between Feb. 3 and March 19, 2009. ... Sharks’ Joe Thornton played his 1,616th game to pass Larry Murphy for 10th place ion NHL's career list. ... San Jose forward Marcus Sorensen was a healthy scratch for first time this season.

UP NEXT

Sharks: host Anaheim on Jan. 27.

Canucks: host St. Louis on Jan. 27.