Canucks look to stretch road streak
Sports Ticker
1/15/2004
SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- The Vancouver Canucks can stretch their team-record road winning streak to nine games Thursday night as they face the San Jose Sharks in a matchup of division leaders.
Vancouver, which previously had never more than five in a row on the road, has not lost away from General Motors Place since a 3-1 setback at Dallas on December 17.
The Canucks' last three road wins have come against teams from the Pacific Division, including Tuesday's 4-1 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes, which raised their road record to 14-6-2-2. The Canucks are two points in front of the Colorado Avalanche for the lead in the Northwest Division.
Captain Markus Naslund, who has scored 13 of his team-leading 24 goals on the road, tallied twice and added an assist.
Vancouver's road skein comes at a time when it has struggled at GM Place, going 0-3-2 in its last five games.
"For whatever reason, we have been keeping things simple on the road and we are not afraid to make mistakes," Vancouver goaltender Dan Cloutier said Tuesday. "At home, we try to do a little much sometimes. We have had a lot of success on the road and it is nice to see we are still climbing up."
While Vancouver has excelled on the road, the Sharks have been solid at home. Before Tuesday's 3-0 loss to Dallas, they had gained a point in 14 straight home contests, going 8-0-4-2.
In their first regulation home loss in over two months, the Sharks went 0-for-4 on the power play and managed just 17 shots on goalie Marty Turco.
San Jose has not had back-to-back regulation losses since October 18 and 21 and has a five-point lead over Dallas, Phoenix and Los Angeles atop the Pacific.
Vancouver leads the all-time series, 32-22-9. The Sharks, however, have won seven of the last nine meetings in the series and extended their winning streak over the Canucks to three games as Patrick Marleau scored with 39 seconds remaining in a 2-1 victory at GM Place on January 5.
Cheers,
Aquaman