Valentine’s Day brings 2-1 loss to Sharks
Denis makes club record 48 saves in overtime defeat

By Giles Kennedy
Contributing Columnist


Sometimes things don’t work out no matter how hard you try. Columbus Goalie Marc Denis found this out with a franchise record 48 saves in a single game. However, San Jose’s Marco Sturm found a way to sneak the game-winning goal with only 16.3 seconds left in overtime to give the Sharks a 2-1 win.
“In a loss like this, none of these matters,” said net minder Marc Denis. “Things didn’t come together.”

In recent games Columbus has won four victories and claimed four ties in the overtime period since January 8th.The victories came against San Jose (Jan.8th), Los Angeles (Jan.10), Minnesota ( Jan 31st), and last Wednesday against Los Angeles again (Feb.11). It was a matter of who was going to wear down whom.
Columbus had 48 saves in the hands of Marc Denis. San Jose net guard Evgeni Nabokov only had to make 24 saves.

Gerard Gallant, interim head coach for the Blue Jackets, was the most vocal about the team disappointing performance.

“We didn’t play a good hockey game at all,“ Gallant remarked, “ We came out and had a real strong ten minutes of the game and an excellent start. After that, it went downhill for the rest of the night.”

The highlight for the Jackets was Geoff Sanderson’s 10th goal of the season. Nikolai Zherdev fought off a pool of Shark defenders and found fellow Russian Alexander Svitov open. Svitov slid it over to Sanderson, who delivered at 3:14 in the 1st , giving Columbus a 1-0 lead.

15:32 in the first, San Jose defenseman Brad Stuart got one past Marc Denis’ blocker to tie the score 1-1.

The remainder of the regulation time was a defensive and goaltending parade for the Blue Jackets. Denis would stop all that was presented to him as San Jose spent most of the time in the Jackets zone.

Columbus would get its chances as well. Rick Nash, still leading the NHL is goals, wound up with an open net opportunity, but fell short as the puck glanced off the outside post.

As overtime was expiring, Columbus failed to get the puck out of its zone. Sharks defenseman Rob Davison would strip the puck from Nash and put the shot on goal. Then San Jose Center Patrick Marleau tried his luck, neither one made it passed.
Denis made the initial stops, but Marco Sturm fought past Luke Richardson and was able to poke the puck under Denis right foot to give the Sharks the 2-1 victory and leave the 18,136 fans and Jacket players with a bitter taste in their mouths.
“It was a tough play,” Rick Nash committed, “They stripped the puck. Unlucky balance. (The goal in overtime) was a lucky goal, it was a tough goal (to swallow).”

“We played well tonight. I thought we deserved to win in regulation. I think we got the job done,” San Jose center Alyn McCauley commented.
CBJ Defender Anders Eriksson summed things up best. “I didn’t think we played well at all. We played very flatfooted,” he said. “I think the first eight to ten minutes we played well. The power plays didn’t work. The last goal, the puck bounced in on the right. It summarized the game.”