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Slacker: Marleau scores once as Sharks keep rolling

marleaugetty

After becoming the first player in 95 years* to start a season with four consecutive multi-goal games, Patrick Marleau totally mailed it in on Sunday by scoring one measly goal.

The San Jose Sharks managed to survive Marleau’s sloth (he also had an assist, which is OK) and beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-1 today.

All requisite sarcasm aside, San Jose’s red-hot top line continued to dominate despite back-to-back games. Joe Thornton (one goal, one assist) and Joe Pavelski (two goals) rounded out that trio’s fantastic evening.

Here are the season totals for that line:

Marleau, 33: nine goals, for assists for 13 points
Thornton, 33: three goals, 10 assists for 13 points
Pavelski, 28: two goals, eight assists for 10 points

That’s all in five contests.

Now, this hot streak is certain to subside; Most obviously, Marleau’s shooting percentage (37.5) is sure to plummet.

Still, the Sharks are now 5-0-0, giving them a nice head start in the Pacific Division. Antti Niemi’s also quietly off to a strong start, boasting a 4-0-0 record with a .933 save percentage and 2.01 GAA.

Keeping up this pace is unlikely, but where do you rank the Sharks after this scorching start?

* - And second ever. Oh, and if you want another eye-popping stat: Ryane Clowe piled up 35 penalty minutes on Sunday.