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 Outshooting the visitors 47-21 despite continued struggles on the
power play, San Jose beat a tired Columbus Blue Jackets team 3-2 on
Friday.
"They played last night and we know that," Sharks forward Tommy
Wingels said of Columbus' game in Los Angeles. "We knew we would
have to play 60 minutes hard here. You wear them down throughout the
game and I think we did a good job of that."
Wingels scored his career-high 12th goal of the season at 5:11 of
the third period to cap a long San Jose cycle that featured a full
line change without the puck exiting the zone.
Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was brilliant during the sequence,
first stopping San Jose defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and then
defenseman Jason Demers before surrendering the tap-in goal by
Wingels as the Sharks fired 13 of the period's first 14 shots.
"That's kind of been lacking lately," Wingels said.
"That was a tough one to swallow," Columbus left winger Matt Calvert
said. "It was a missed assignment on my part. They finished the
play."
The two-goal lead appeared comfortable until Demers committed a bad
giveaway, enabling Columbus left winger Boone Jenner to score from
the slot at 10:45.
"We were able to fight back. Obviously you don't want to go into a
break with a loss but we have been playing great hockey the past few
games," Columbus center Ryan Johansen said. "The boys battled hard
and we just fell a little short."
Penalty killing and Bobrovsky kept the Blue Jackets in the game
during the second period, in which Columbus scored the only goal to
cut the deficit to one after 40 minutes.
Johansen intercepted an attempted clear by San Jose center Joe
Thornton and surprised Sharks goalie Antti Niemi with a shot just
inside the blue line for his 24th goal of the season 18 seconds into
the second period.
"We played last night, but no excuses, we had to find a way to win
this game," Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said. "They were better
than us. They were faster than us and they worked harder. Our effort
was there."
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The Sharks scored two goals in the opening 8:13 thanks to a fast
start.
San Jose center John McCarthy scored his first goal in 36 games this
season by redirecting left winger James Sheppard's turn-around shot
from the right circle just inside the near post at 3:23.
It was McCarthy's third career goal was his first since Nov. 6,
2010, a span of 73 games as the forward has spent a majority of the
time between goals in the minors.
"It was just one of those goals where I meant to tip it, but it just
hit me and went in," McCarthy said. "It's the type of goal you like
to get."
After the Sharks killed a Columbus penalty in which the Blue Jackets
put four shots on goal, the hosts struck again.
Bobrovsky made a great save on right winger Brent Burns in front
after Thornton threaded a perfect feed from behind the net. But the
rebound went to pinching Sharks defenseman Scott Hannan, whose low
drive was tipped by left winger Patrick Marleau on the way in at
8:13.
Marleau's 23rd goal was his first in seven games.
"It was nice to see us getting second and third opportunities,"
Marleau said.
Jenner put a puck past Niemi, but the no-goal ruling for use of a
high stick at 10:02 was upheld upon video review.
"It was a close play but I'm going to argue for the goal because
we're the ones who would have gotten it," Richards said.
NOTES: Todd McLellan surpassed Darryl Sutter with his 435th game as
Sharks coach to become the franchise leader on Friday. ... Rookie LW
Matt Nieto did not play as result of an injury sustained blocking a
shot against Dallas on Wednesday. RW Tyler Kennedy missed his fifth
straight with a lower-body injury, leaving only D Matt Irwin as a
healthy scratch. ... Columbus came in on an 11-3-1 run in its
previous 14 games. ... San Jose D Jason Demers returned after
missing three games with a groin injury. ... Injured C Logan Couture
(hand) and RW Raffi Torres (knee) are expected back when the Sharks
next play on Feb. 27. ... LW Blake Comeau, D Tim Erixon and D Cody
Goloubef did not dress for Columbus.
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