Jackets stun Sharks in OT  (12/17/08)
by Dave Seaman, Columbus Wired (photos by Dave Weissman)

The Columbus Blue Jackets got exactly what the needed Wednesday night in Nationwide Arena—a statement game against an elite team in the NHL.  That statement came in a 2-1 overtime victory over San Jose, the best team in the league, in front of 13,884.

The game was a battle between goaltenders Evgeni Nabokov and Steve Mason and in the end R.J. Umberger beat the Sharks’ goaltender to lift the Jackets to their fifth straight win on home ice.

Mason stood on his head once again, stopping 47 shots, one shy of a franchise mark. The Sharks outshot the Jackets 48-32, including 20-11 in the third period and overtime.

“Every time that you are getting a lot of shots like that, you don’t really have a chance to get cold out there,” Mason said. “I like getting a lot of shots. It keeps you sharp and the results show.”
 

Mason improves to 9-5-1 on the season and has allowed two or fewer goals in eight of his previous 10 starts, including his last five starts. He lowered his goals-against to 1.91 (tops in the NHL) and raised his save percentage to .929.

“Mason’s games all look the same to me,” Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. “He’s there, the shooter is there and they don’t see much. He makes the save and there are no big rebounds and he always knows there the puck is. He is a very good goalie and he’s going to help s win games.”

The win also puts the Jackets (14-14-3, 31 points) within a point of the final playoff spot, currently held by Phoenix.

Nabokov stopped 30 shots for San Jose (25-3-3), who play in Detroit Thursday. The Sharks have at least a point in 15 straight games.

The game-winner came when Kristian Huselius took a loose puck in the neutral zone and skated 2-on-1 with Umberger into the Sharks’ zone. Huselius fed Umberger on the doorstep and he jammed the puck past Nabokov.

“Huselius made a good play at the blue line and we caught them 2-on-1,” Umberger said. “We knew that Nabokov comes out far, so by the time it got to me, he was out of position and it was an empty net.”

The win came at a price. Jason Chimera heard a pop in his groin and is out indefinitely. Andrew Murray suffered an upper-body injury.

Devin Setoguchi tipped in a shot from Rob Blake to put the Sharks on the board at 3:41 of the third period. San Jose was 15-2-1 when scoring first.

The Jackets tied the game at 12:32. Rick Nash took the puck as Shark’s defenseman Dan Boyle was trying to clear it and centered a pass to Jake Voracek. The Jackets rookie backhanded the puck to Peca, who beat Nabokov far side with a wrist shot.

“Rick made a great read and because Jakub was in the right position, we were able to fool the goalie because we think (Nabokov) thought the pass was coming to me,” Peca said. “I was able to get a quick shot off and beat the goalie as he was opened up.”

The Sharks didn’t look at the game as an upset and may have been looking ahead to the showdown in Detroit (20-6-4), the second best team in the Western Conference.

“I thought we played great, we got a point of out of it, now we can put it behind us, and we’ve got a bigger game to worry about (Friday in Detroit),” Setoguchi said.

Columbus plays in Dallas Thursday and in Phoenix on Saturday before returning home to host Los Angeles on Tuesday.