San Jose Sharks 5, Philadelphia Flyers 2 FINAL

PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ The San Jose Sharks didn't need many shots to win this one.

Scott Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo each had a goal and two assists, helping the Sharks snap the Philadelphia Flyers' five-game winning streak with a 5-2 victory on Monday night.

Patrick Marleau, Marco Sturm and Mike Ricci also scored for Pacific Division-leading San Jose, which won its second straight away from home after opening a six-game road trip with consecutive losses.

The Sharks needed just 20 shots to record five goals, one game after taking a club-record 50 shots in a 2-1 overtime victory at Columbus.

``We have been getting quite a few chances, but we just haven't been burying them,'' Cheechoo said. ``Our goal was to keep coming the way we've been coming and just bear down on some of our chances.''

John LeClair and Simon Gagne scored for the Atlantic Division-leading Flyers, who lost for just the second time in 12 games.

``We were sloppy with the puck and we made far too many mistakes in our own end,'' Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. ``You can't make those mistakes against a good team and expect to win.''

Sean Burke allowed five goals on 20 shots, losing for the first time in three starts since coming to the Flyers in a trade last week. He heard boos during the game and other insults before it ended.

Evgeni Nabokov had 20 saves for San Jose.

The Sharks hadn't won in Philadelphia since a 3-0 victory on Nov. 20, 1997, going 0-3-1 in that span.

``We were ready to play and our guys were all fired up. We viewed this as a test of our legitimacy,'' Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. ``Right now this is the best team in the East and one of the best in hockey. We kind of looked at it like if we were ever to dream that we were going to win the Stanley Cup, we might have to win a game like this is May or June.''

Marleau gave San Jose a 1-0 lead just 89 seconds in when he scored off a rebound of his own shot. Marleau's initial shot from near the faceoff circle hit Flyers defenseman Chris Therien before it reached the net and went right back to Marleau, who lifted it past Burke for his 24th goal.

Sturm made it 2-0 with his 17th goal midway through the first on the end of a tic-tac-toe passing play with Marleau and Scott Hannan.

LeClair's power-play goal cut it to 2-1 in the first. He took a perfect centering pass from Michal Handzus and flicked into an open net for his 18th goal.

Thornton slipped a shot between Burke's legs for a 3-1 lead in the second period. Cheechoo scored his 15th goal and Ricci scored his sixth goal 3:55 apart in the third period to put the game out of reach.

``There's no excuse,'' Flyers forward Mark Recchi said. ``We had a bad practice in the morning and it carried over into the game.''