San Jose, CA (My Sportsbook) - Evgeni Nabokov notched his second shutout of the season and 42nd of his career with 33 saves as San Jose scored five times in the first two periods to down Vancouver, 5-0, at HP Pavilion.

Patrick Marleau tallied a goal and two assists while Devin Setoguchi and Joe Thornton logged a score and an assist apiece for the Sharks, who halted a two- game skid the last time out with a 3-2 win over the Rangers.

Rob Blake and Tomas Plihal also lit the lamp while Dan Boyle added a pair of helpers as the victory improved San Jose to 18-0-2 at home this year and 26-0-3 in their last 29 as the host dating back to last year. The Sharks are now eight games shy of the NHL record for consecutive games at home with a point, set by the Montreal Canadiens in 1976-77 and 77-78 (31-0 with 6 ties).

The Sharks also continued their mastery of the Canucks with a fifth straight win in the series. They swept the four-game series with the Canucks last year, outscoring them 15-6.

"You can look at (the blowout win) two ways -- it's nice to have the big win but -- are we going to have wins like this in the playoffs? It's a nice Christmas present for the crowd, good entertainment," Nabokov said.

Cory Schneider allowed all five goals on just 15 shots before giving way to Curtis Sanford, who stopped all 16 shots he faced the rest of the way as Vancouver dropped its second game in the last three.

"That's why you've got to have a short memory as a goalie. Just learn your lessons from tonight, move on, and be better the next day," Schneider said. "We had to make a change, obviously. I wasn't making some of the big saves I had to make. It was the right move. Like I said, you never want to get pulled, but, it's kind of lesson learned."

The Sharks scored three times in the first period with Blake starting things with a rebound wrist shot off the boards at the 4:22 mark.

A pair of Canucks' minor penalties gave the Sharks two consecutive power-play opportunities less than two minutes later that resulted in two more scores. Marleau netted his 18th of the year 17 seconds into the man-advantage with a wraparound, beating Schneider top shelf over the glove. Setoguchi followed with his 17th goal on the season with a redirection of a Marleau shot at the 7:09 mark for a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes.

San Jose essentially put the game out of reach early in the second, scoring twice in the opening 43 seconds. Thornton found the back of the net 24 seconds in and Plihal scored just 19 seconds later to chase Schneider.

The Canucks turned up the heat on Nabokov in the last two periods, firing 16 shots in the second and 13 in the third but the goaltender was unfazed on the way to his 19th win of the season.

Game Notes

San Jose has won eight of its last 11 against Vancouver and three straight as the host in this series...The Sharks play the next three on the road starting in St. Louis Saturday...Nabokov won all four meetings while posting a 1.51 goals against average in the Canucks series last season...San Jose is tops in the NHL with 57 points and a 27-4-3 mark on the season...The Canucks play the next three at home starting Friday against Edmonton.