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Heatley wows in home
opener
Winger records 8th career hat
trick
If Thursday night’s home opener is any
indication of how the Sharks top line will produce once they get used to
playing with each other, the rest of the league may want to take notice. Dany
Heatley, Joe Thornton and Devin Setoguchi combined for 4 goals and 6 assists,
including a hat trick by Heatley on Thursday night. The new Sharks left winger
completed his trifecta by converting a penalty shot to cap a 6-3 win over the
Columbus Blue Jackets at HP Pavilion.
Heatley scored a pair of goals
in a wild 2nd period, that had the Sharks overcome an early Blue Jackets lead,
including a pretty breakaway with 11.5 seconds left in the frame.
“It was a great night,” an upbeat Heatley said after the game.
“The crowd was great right from the introductions. They had us going. As a
group, we played real well. We skated well and fore-checked well, so we were
rewarded for it.”
It didn’t look like anyone in teal was
going to be rewarded early in the game. San Jose struggled to generate any
tempo in the opening period, and it would be Columbus that would strike first.
Rick Nash converted at 12:08 collecting a rebound at the top of the
crease, after the Sharks lost track of the puck as a scrum formed in front of
the san Jose net. Nash finished off the play by cutting across the slot from
left to right before beating an outstretched Evgeni Nabokov for the early 1-0
lead.
“Our execution was poor,” said Sharks head coach Todd
McLellan. “We couldn’t complete two passes in a row, but as the night
progressed I thought we took it over. We’ve still got a lot of work to do,
I think that’s evident but I’m happy with the win.”
The
middle period would prove to be more fruitful for San Jose .
Dan Boyle
tied it up with a wrist shot from the right dot at 2:35 of the 2nd period.
Boyle made a little shake-and-bake move around Nash at center ice before
carrying the puck into the Columbus zone and snapping home his first of the
year.
Heatley would introduce himself to the San Jose faithful by
scoring his first goal on home ice two minutes later. He would grab a loose
puck behind the Columbus goal, before navigating around the right post and
lifting a shot over Columbus netminder Steve Mason.
Ryane Clowe and
Mike Blunden dropped the gloves in a spirited fight midway through the period,
with Blunden absorbing most of the punches distributed by the pair. That would
be followed shortly thereafter by an undercard bout between Derek Dorsett and
Frazer McLaren.
Setoguchi missed on a golden chance with 9:40 left in
the period when his 15 foot one-timer from the slot deflected off the crossbar.
Jason Chimera tied things up at 11:14 with an uncontested slap shot
from the top of the left circle. The left wing found himself all alone after
Boyle tried pinching at his blueline to intercept a pass and missed.
Patrick Marleau missed on a chance after taking a
centering feed at the Blue Jackets blueline and splitting two defenders, before
cutting to his left and lifting a shot just wide of the net. Even though
Marleau missed, it was an indication that the Sharks speed was going to be an
issue for the Columbus defense.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic put the Sharks
back on top with 1:55 remaining in the period by sending a shot from the left
wing glass that caught the inside of the right post.
Heatley would
push the lead to two goals riht before the 2nd intermission by taking a 60 foot
feed from Boyle, then racing up the left side and snapping the puck to the near
side just under Mason’s glove.
Setoguchi pushed the lead to three
goals 1:34 into the 3rd period with a short one-timer from the right side. Joe
Thorton setup the goal with a feed from behind the Blue Jacket net as Setoguchi
was heading toward the net from the right wing boards. Columbus head coach Ken
Hitchcock would pull Mason at that point in favor of Mathieu Garon.
Raffi Torres would convert on a Rob Blake tripping penalty moments later.
Nabokov made the first save on a Torres shot from the slot, but a big rebound
would bounce right back to the Columbus forward for the put back.
“We were playing well and we really had a good first period," Hitcock
said. "We really played well. The game was half way through and then we just
got beat. We got beat on two or three goals and we got beat down low. Their
best players were their best players in the second half of the game.”
Heatley completed the hat trick at 7:08 of the period on a penalty shot
conversion after getting tripped up on a breakaway chance. The sellout crowd
urged him to bag a 4th the next time he stepped on the ice by chanting his
name.
“They were a very dangerous line tonight,” McLellan
said. “I thought they got better as the night went on. That’s just a
sign of them starting to click. The goals and assists were nice… The fact
that they played fast and they were in the right area of the rink is what
impressed me the most.”
Game Notes:
Former
centerman Jeremy Roenick was in attendance, as a guest of the Sharks. He
received a standing ovation from the 17,562 in the 1st period after he was
shown on the video scoreboard. The new attendance capacity was increased by 70
seats during the off-season. The Sharks unveiled three banners in the rafters
before the game. A “Pacific Division Champions”, “Western
Conference Regular Season Champions”, and “Presidents Trophy”
banner now hang along side the three Pacific Division Championship banners that
hang in the south end of the rink.
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What did you
think of this game? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| CBJ |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
| SJ |
0 |
4 |
2 |
6 |
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| 1st period - 1, CBJ,
Nash 1 (Huselius, Vermette), 12:08. |
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| 2nd period - 2, SJ,
Boyle 1 (Thornton, Murray), 2:35. 3, SJ, Heatley 2 (Setoguchi, Thornton), 5:40.
4, CBJ, Chimera 1 (Roy, Hejda), 11:14. 5, SJ, Vlasic 1 (Boyle, Thornton),
18:05. 6, Heatley 3 (Boyle), 19:48. |
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| 3rd period - 7, SJ,
Setoguchi 4 (Thornton, Heatley), 1:34. 8, CBJ, Torres 2 (Tyutin, Nash), 3:45,
(pp). 9, SJ, Heatley 4 (penalty shot), 7:08 (ps). |
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| 1st period - Klesla, CBJ
(tripping), 0:36; Heatley, SJ (hooking), 1:41; Bench, CBJ (too many men), 4:08;
Methot, CBJ (cross checking), 13:33. |
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| 2nd period - Dorsett,
CBJ (roughing), 2:06; Clowe, SJ (roughing), 2:06; Blunden, CBJ (fighting
major), 8:51; Clowe, SJ (fighting major), 8:51; Dorsett, CBJ (fighting major),
9:16; McLaren, SJ (fighting major), 9:16; Umberger, CBJ (roughing), 14:10;
Malhotra, SJ (cross checking), 14:10. |
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| 3rd period -
Blake, SJ (tripping), 3:39; Torres, CBJ (hooking), 9:37. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| CBJ - Mason |
20 |
15 |
| CBJ - Garon |
8 |
7 |
| SJ - Nabokov |
27 |
24 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| CBJ |
11 |
9 |
7 |
27 |
| SJ |
8 |
11 |
9 |
28 |
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| Referees:
Joannette, Sutherland. Linesmen: Cvik, Heyer. |
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