Canucks lose a 3-2 heartbreaker to the Sharks in overtime

Raffi Torres converted a pass from Brent Burns at 5:31 of overtime, helping the San Jose Sharks defeat the Canucks 3-2.

The Sharks' victory gives them a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final series.

Ryan Kesler’s two goals and Roberto Luongo’s outstanding goaltending put the Canucks in a position to win the game in regulation time.

Canucks forward Jannik Hansen could have put the game away with a shot into an empty net, but it slid wide of the mark.

That set the stage for the Sharks to tie the match at 19:05 of the third period. Patrick Marleau jumped on a loose puck behind Luongo, tapping it into the net.

"We were a couple of plays away and a couple of seconds away from getting the win," coach Alain Vigneault told reporters in his postgame news conference.

He added that all parts of the Canucks' play were better tonight.

Sharks captain Joe Thornton opened the scoring in the first period after Luongo made several superb saves.

The Sharks outshot the Canucks 10-4 in the first frame.

The Canucks found their feet in the second period but were unable to score. During the intermission, Kesler said on TSN that his team would do what was necessary to win.

True to his word, early in the third period, Kesler fired a slap shot from the point past goalie Antti Niemi on a power play.

A few minutes later, Kesler scored on another slap shot from the high slot after the Sharks had coughed up the puck.

Kesler was also outstanding in the face-off circle and delivered several crushing hits.

But it wasn't enough, and the Canucks will play their next two games at HP Pavilion, where the Sharks only lost twice this season.