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 The Sharks scored four goals in the third period for a 5-3 win over
the Columbus Blue Jackets in Nationwide Arena on Sunday, ending a
six-game road trip with six wins for the first time in franchise
history.
"I've never been part of a 6-0 road trip," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer
said. "At the NHL level -- anytime, anywhere -- that's a big feat.
"To go on the road and rattle off those wins in the buildings we've
played in, it's a testament to our group and the leadership of the
group."
The Sharks trailed 3-1 before scoring three goals in the span of
7:02 for a 4-3 lead that brought Nationwide to a hush quiet.
Center Joe Pavelski scored at 6:13 to make it 3-2 and defenseman
Brent Burns dropped to one knee for a power-play one-time at 11:25
that made it 3-3.
Defenseman Brenden Dillon, who hadn't scored in 53 games, potted the
go-ahead goal at 13:15.
"To think of the teams and the players who have played in San Jose,
we're really happy to do something like this, knowing it's pretty
rare," Dillon said. "We wanted every point we could get. Let's keep
this train rolling a while if we can."
Pavelski added a late goal for the Sharks, while center Patrick
Marleau added a goal. Right wing Joel Ward had two assists,
including the power-play set-up that Burns finished for the
game-winner.
Sharks goaltender Alex Stalock finished with 28 saves for his second
victory of the season.
"They found a way to win, and we found a way to lose," Blue Jackets
coach John Tortorella said.
The Blue Jackets got goals from right winger Cam Atkinson, left
winger Boone Jenner and center Ryan Johansen, while goaltender
Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 24 saves.
Atkinson's goal early in the third period put the Jackets ahead 3-1.
"It should be in the bag at the point," Blue Jackets captain Nick
Foligno said. "They found energy, for some reason, and we didn't.
"To me, that's unacceptable. I don't think we played our best game,
but we played well enough to win. We have to close that out."
Sharks coach Peter DeBoer, who missed Saturday's game in Pittsburgh
because of family health issues, arrived in Columbus just an hour
before faceoff, his sense of humor fully intact.
"It was a family medical emergency," DeBoer said. "Thankfully
everything is OK.
"Guys didn't miss a beat while I was gone. That shows my
importance."
The Sharks took a 1-0 lead at 16:27 of the first period on Marleau's
seventh goal of the season.
The Blue Jackets were badly outskated and outworked in the first
period, prompting coach John Tortorella to change three of the four
forward lines. Most notably, he dropped No. 1 center Ryan Johansen
to the fourth line with two rookies, left wing Kerby Rychel and
right winger Josh Anderson.
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The dividends were almost immediate for Columbus.
At 5:30 of the second, Johansen scored out of a scramble -- Rychel
and Anderson each had assists -- to make it 1-1.
Only 1:18 later, the Jackets pushed the pace and earned a 2-1 lead
off a dazzling three-on-two rush, finished by Jenner.
The Jackets made it 3-1 early in the third when Atkinson took a
nifty feed across the goal mouth from center Nick Foligno.
"It's human nature to let down a little bit at that point, maybe,"
DeBoer said. "But I didn't hear anything like that.
"It wasn't us coaches in the room, either. It was the players. The
guys ... they don't talk it, they walk it. The leaders went out
there and they refused to lose that game."
The Pavelski goal started the comeback, but the Burns goal made it
clear the Sharks were in business.
Only seven seconds into a power play, Burns dropped to one knee and
one-timed a set-up from Sharks right wing Joel Ward.
Then, at 13:15, Dillon gathered the puck and the blue line off a
faceoff and scored on a wrister through traffic. It was his first
goal in 53 games.
That marked the third goal scored shortly off a faceoff win by the
Sharks in their attack zone. They won 26 of 32 offensive faceoffs in
the game.
Pavelski capped it with 1:16 to play when he scored into an empty
net.
"I just don't think we had a whole lot of bite to our game,"
Tortorella said.
NOTES: The Blue Jackets lost two defensemen in Friday's win over
Nashville. D Cody Goloubef sustained a fractured jaw when he was
struck by a puck in the face. He had surgery Saturday and is
expected to miss four to six weeks. D Fedor Tyutin broke his nose
and is day-to-day. ... The Blue Jackets recalled D Andrew Bodnarchuk
from AHL Lake Erie on Saturday. His appearance for Columbus on
Sunday was his first in the NHL since April 2010, when he played for
the Boston Bruins.
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