VANCOUVER: The Vancouver Canucks staged a third period comeback to beat the San Jose Sharks 3-2 Sunday and draw first blood in the NHL Western Conference final series. Vancouver's Kevin Bieksa and team captain Henrik Sedin beat San Jose netminder Antti Niemi with goals less than two minutes apart in the final period of a game that saw the Canucks outshoot the Sharks 38 to 29. San Jose capitalized on Vancouver mistakes to pull 2-1 ahead but the Canucks began to find their game at the end of the second period with a series of good chances that had bodies piled around a sprawling Niemi. Vancouver had five days off after beating Nashville in the last round of the playoffs and center Ryan Kesler told reporters they may have been a bit rusty coming into this contest. “It's motivating when you're not playing your best and you're still getting chances like that. We just fed off that and as they game went on we continued to get better and better,” Kesler said. It took San Jose seven games to beat Detroit to make it to the finals and coach Todd McLellan said his team appeared to tire – first mentally, then physically – which led to mistakes in handling the puck. The teams meet in Game Two of the best-of-seven series Wednesday in Vancouver.
