Sharks top Jackets 3-2 in OT shootout (11/4/09)
by Dave Seaman, Columbus Wired - Photos by Tom Theodore

After failing to compete for 60 minutes at a time over the last three weeks, the Columbus Blue Jackets have become more competitive despite not seeing the ending result in a win.

The Jackets were shut out in the shootout and fell 3-2 to the San Jose Sharks in front of 13,401 in Nationwide Arena Wednesday night.

A big reason for the success against the Sharks was the return of defenseman Jan Hejda, who missed the previous seven games with a knee injury. Hejda led all Jackets with 23:55 of ice time.

“My knee was perfect and it was not sore,” Hejda said. “I feel great. I could play 29 more minutes. I didn’t play with much confidence in the second period, but in the third period and in overtime, I thought I was right on the game.”

Hejda, who was on the ice for the Sharks first goal, said he had a rough time watching his teammates struggle through a 3-4-1 stretch.

“It was (tough watching the team struggle) when I was at home in front of my TV,” Hejda said. “It’s always hard to watch when your team is losing. I’ve been trying to get back in the lineup as soon a possible. Hopefully I can help more in the next game than I did tonight.”

Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley scored for the Sharks and Dan Boyle was the lone shooter to score in the shootout. Evgeni Nabokov had 26 saves and stopped Nikita Filatov, Stralman and Rick Nash in the shootout. San Jose has won six straight.

Jason Chimera and Nash scored for Columbus, who as recorded a point in each of is last three games (1-0-2). Anton Stralman, who was playing in his 100th NHL game, had two assists and Steve Mason stopped 36 of 38 shots he faced in regulation and overtime.

“Mason played well,” Nash said. “The special teams was good and I thought we played a solid game. You know, they are a good team and I thought we had a good night and it’s disappointing we didn’t get the two points.”

Columbus played without defenseman Mike Commodore (charley horse) and wingers Kristian Huselius (left arm) and Derek Brassard (bruised hand) and lost Mike Blunden to an upper body injury in the second period. Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said Alexandre Picard would be recalled for the team’s game in Atlanta Thursday night.

The Sharks took an early lead when Ryane Clowe fed Thornton, who was camped out just to the left of the goal post at 6:32. Mason had been rammed into seconds earlier by Thornton and did not get back to his feet fast enough.

Chimera tied the game less than three minutes later when he deflected a Fedor Tyutin slap shot from the blue line.

The Sharks regained the lead when Heatley tapped in a loose rebound when Mason failed to cover the initial shot by Patrick Marleau on the power play.

Nash knotted the game at two with a power play goal late in the second period. He took a pass from R.J. Umberger and slid the puck between Nabokov and the far post from the goal line. The Jackets kept the puck in the Sharks zone for a nearly a minute, 30 seconds.

“(Scoring the power play goal) showed our hunger,” Hitchcock said. “We needed to take advantage of that one. I thought our guys did a great job on that one.”

The Jackets had its chances in the third period. Sammy Phalsson had a shot ring off the post midway through the period and R.J. Umberger and Nash failed to score with a scrum in front of Nabokov with just under two minutes remaining.

In overtime, Mason saved the game twice with a glove save on Marleau and a pad save on Clowe.

“The whole night was a challenge,” San Jose coach Todd McLellan said. “It wasn’t an overly pretty game to watch. They did a great job of playing a straight forward, hard-game and we tried to match it.”

The Sharks outshot the Jackets 38-28, including 13-6 in the second period, and went one-for-two on the power play. Columbus scored on its only chance with the man-advantage.

The Jackets return home to start a four-game home stand Saturday with Carolina visiting Nationwide Arena at 7 p.m.

dave.seaman@columbuswired.tv
Twitter: @daveseaman94