The San Jose Sharks are off to the best start in franchise history. They look to extend their season-opening five-game winning streak as they continue their six-game homestand against the Pacific Division-rival Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday. San Jose rolled to a 4-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday to improve to 3-0-0 on its homestand. Joe Pavelski registered his 19th career two-goal performance while Patrick Marleau remained red-hot with a goal and an assist.
Despite having his streak of two goals per game end at four, Marleau leads the NHL with nine tallies. That's four more goals than Ducks leader Daniel Winnik, who scored in Saturday's 3-2 shootout win over the Nashville Predators at the Honda Center. Making his NHL debut, 30-year-old goaltender Viktor Fasth made 19 saves before denying all three Predators he faced in the shootout. The triumph came one night after Anaheim was blanked 5-0 by Vancouver in its home opener.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket (Anaheim), CSN California (San Jose)
ABOUT THE DUCKS (3-1-0): Winnik set a franchise record by becoming the first Duck to score five goals in the first five games of the season. The 27-year-old tallied only eight times in 84 contests with San Jose and the Colorado Avalanche last campaign. "I came into the season not thinking too much, which had kind of been my problem sometimes in previous years," Winnik said. "The goals are just products of going to the net. That's been my focus, and when I have a scoring chance, I try and score, as opposed to getting back on the defensive side."
ABOUT THE SHARKS (5-0-0): Through Sunday, Marleau had more goals himself than the Los Angeles Kings and Florida Panthers, who each totaled eight, and as many as the Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets. He also had netted more tallies than San Jose had allowed (eight). With 12 power-play goals, the Sharks fell one short of the NHL record over the first five games of a season shared by the 1987-88 New York Rangers and 2005-06 Toronto Maple Leafs. Sunday's victory was Todd McLellan's 200th as a coach and Antti Niemi's 100th in net. Marleau and captain Joe Thornton share the league scoring lead with 13 points apiece.
OVERTIME
1. Including Tuesday, the Ducks will have played only five games over the first 13 days of the lockout-shortened season.
2. San Jose has scored 23 goals, eclipsing the franchise record of 21 through the first five games of the campaign.
3. Thornton recorded his 764th career assist on Sunday, moving him past Chris Chelios for 37th place on the all-time list.
PREDICTION: Sharks 5, Ducks 3.