Thornton: 'We definitely got to play better'

VANCOUVER – Joe Thornton opened the scoring on this third goal of the playoffs, a gift from Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo.

It appeared the San Jose Sharks were on the right track to a perfect road game; however, a late second-period collapse carried over into the third period and the Canucks took over by scoring a pair of unanswered goals, helping them to a 3-2 Game 1 win at Rogers Arena on Sunday night.

Afterward, Thornton addressed the media:

Q: How big a factor did fatigue play in the third?

A: Well there shouldn’t be any. We haven't played since Thursday.

Q: Was there a time where you felt you went from the leaders to the chasers?

A: When they went up 3-2.

Q: Can you talk about that 1:19 there where Vancouver scored twice?

A: For whatever reason it's the theme to this year's playoffs -- back-to-back goals real quickly, and we took a penalty.

Q: How did the tables turn in the third period?

A: I really don't know. We'll have to watch the tape, but you're so consumed in your shift you really don't know when it turned.

Q: You only drew one penalty. Can you comment on that?

A: When we skate, we're a pretty good team and then we draw some penalties … but yeah, I think we just got to move our feet, get quicker and we'll draw some more.

Q: Any concern on the power-play discrepancy?

A: Well yeah. They got a good power play. So do we. That's the bottom line.

Q: What are your thoughts on the two days off between games?

A: We can’t change it, so we have to be (OK with it). We're going to come in and try to win on Wednesday. We definitely got to play better and that's going to be our focus.

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