"Overall, the effort was good," coach Willie Desjardins said. "Our young guys came up and played hard. The first two periods, we gave ourselves a real chance to win that game."
Vancouver was missing defensemen Chris Tanev, Nikita Tryamkin and Troy Stecher, and forwards Markus Granlund and Michael Chaput because of mumps or related symptoms, and defenseman Luca Sbisa left after the second period because of the flu.
The Canucks have been quarantining players with mumps symptoms, but Desjardins said that isn't the case with Sbisa.
"They said it's totally different symptoms," Desjardins said.
Hertl gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 3:31 of the second period, but Sedin tied it 1-1 at 12:02.
After Marleau made it 2-1 with 56 seconds left in the second period, Boedker scored his first goal in 20 games on a 2-on-1 at 11:31 of the third, and Couture scored on a power play at 14:20 to make it 4-1.
"Our line got better as the game went on, and the whole team got getter as the game went on," Boedker said. "It's always nice to put it in when you have a big chance like that."
Desjardins said Stecher and Tanev no longer are in quarantine.
"They're good to come back, but we'll have to get a read on where they're at," he said.
Stecher was the only of the five players with a confirmed case of the mumps.