VANCOUVER – Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks is in elite company. The two-time Canadian Olympic gold medallist joined the NHL’s 500-goal club with his first-period goal in a 4-1 road win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

It was a beautiful power-play marker at 9:30. Defenceman Brent Burns sent a stretch pass to Joe Pavelski on the right side, and he passed it cross-ice on the rush to Marleau. The veteran left wing beat Vancouver goalie Ryan Miller high to the blocker side.

“The biggest thing for me is just seeing all my teammates and even getting congratulated by some of the guys on the other team,” said Marleau. “I saw that with 1,000 points as well, but when you get it again, it’s pretty special.”

Marleau is the 45th player in NHL history to tally 500 goals and the first Shark. Only 18 have done it with their original team. To put this achievement in modern perspective, the other four active players in the 500-goal club are Jaromir Jagr (758), Jarome Iginla (617), Alexander Ovechkin (550), and Marian Hossa (518).

“He’s an incredible player,” said Burns, who was named Best Defenceman at the 2008 and 2015 IIHF World Championships and is chasing the NHL scoring lead this year. “Most guys probably won’t get to 500 games and to get 500 goals, it’s just an incredible feat.”

Marleau’s progress to the milestone sped up dramatically when he scored four times in the third period of a 5-2 road win over the Colorado Avalanche on 23 January. At 37, he became the oldest player ever to get four goals in a period and the first since Mario Lemieux in 1997. He’s been red-hot lately with seven goals and an assist in five games.

“The boys couldn’t be happier for him,” said Pavelski. “He’s put in a lot of work over the years. To get here, the consistency that he’s shown, it’s a number that not many guys get to.”

The 500th goal came in the same building where Marleau, a 2003 IIHF World Champion, won his first Olympic gold. During the 2010 Winter Games, Rogers Arena was dubbed “Canada Hockey Place.” Marleau scored twice there – once in a 3-2 round-robin shootout win over Switzerland, and also in the 3-2 semi-final victory versus Slovakia. He totalled five points in 2010, and then had four assists in 2014 when Canada triumphed in Sochi, Russia.

“I’ve had a lot of good memories up and down this West Coast,” said Marleau. “Seattle’s pretty close to here, where I played junior, and I have some family in town. So it’s nice – and obviously, the gold medal. It’s a good building.”

It’s been a long road for Marleau, who made his NHL debut in 1997 at age 18, and captained the Sharks from 2004 to 2009. He was chosen second overall by San Jose in the first round of the 1997 NHL Draft, after future Sharks and Canadian Olympic teammate Joe Thornton went to Boston.

It’s hard to say when we’ll see another player hit 500 NHL goals. Rick Nash of the New York Rangers is 32 and currently has 407. The next closest active player is Arizona’s Shane Doan with 400. After that, Marian Gaborik, Thornton, Sidney Crosby, and Daniel Sedin all have fewer than 400 goals.

The last major milestone for Marleau was 1,000 career points. The native of Aneroid, Saskatchewan reached it with a first-period assist in a 3-1 road win over the Pittsburgh Penguins

There’s still one piece missing for Marleau, who is slated to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Despite totalling 116 points in 171 career playoff games, the 19-season NHLer hasn’t won a Stanley Cup. He came close last year when the Sharks marched to the final but lost in six games to Pittsburgh.

So while getting 500 goals is a special moment, Marleau’s priority is still what unfolds in April, May, and June. Will he finally hoist the silver chalice?

“I think like anything, he won’t appreciate this until he’s done and gone,” said head coach Peter DeBoer. “It’ll be years down the road and he’ll look back and recognize how great his accomplishments are – 500 goals and doing it all with the San Jose Sharks. He’s a special player and he’s a good person.”

“It makes it that much more special to get it in a win and to be playing the way we are as a club right now,” said Marleau. “It’s a lot of fun right now with this group of guys, and we’ve got to keep it going.”

LUCAS AYKROYD