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Final Score: San Jose 2 - Vancouver 3

Vancouver, BC (Sports Network) - Ryan Kesler and Alexander Edler each had a goal and an assist, as the Vancouver Canucks held off the San Jose Sharks, 3-2, at GM Place.

Ryan Johnson also scored for the Canucks, who improved to 3-1-0 on a five-game homestand and trail San Jose and Chicago by five points for the top spot in the Western Conference.

Roberto Luongo made 32 saves for the victors.

"We've had some good starts at home, so that was the difference tonight," Luongo said. "We came out, we had a good first period and scored some goals on the power play."

Joe Pavelski had a goal and an assist for the Sharks, who have dropped four straight and are now tied with the Blackhawks atop the West standings. Chicago beat Los Angeles, 3-0, on Thursday.

"In the third period, we got a couple goals. We got to find something; we start taking a few more chances, and it led to one goal there. But it's tough to come back from two or three goals," Pavelski said.

Ryan Clowe also lit the lamp. Evgeni Nabokov turned aside 23-of-26 shots in defeat.

Down 3-1 in the third, San Jose got a goal from Pavelski to cut the deficit to one with 3:08 remaining. Kent Huskins' shot from the left point was stopped by the stick of Pavelski, who then collected the puck and fired a wrist shot past Luongo.

The Sharks pulled Nabokov late for the extra attacker, but failed to find an equalizer.

The Canucks scored a pair of power-play goals via slap shots in the first period. Edler and Kesler lit the lamp at the 8:31 and 12:14 marks, respectively.

Clowe scored four minutes into the second to cut the gap to 2-1. Clowe charged down the right-wing side and fought off a defender as he made his way in front for a wrister past Luongo.

Vancouver went back up by two on a backhander from Johnson for his first goal of the season with 3:12 remaining in the middle stanza.