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Heritage night brings back
horrors of early years Sharks lost to league's worst
Blue Jackets
As part of the team's 25th anniversary celebration,
the Sharks busted out the heritage jerseys for the first time this season on
Tuesday night in homage to teams of yesteryear. The team then proceeded to
transform themselves into the god awful 1991-92 team, tripping over themselves
en route to a lopsided loss at the hands of the league's current doormat, the
Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus entered Tuesday night's game reeling from a
2-10-0 record, but the Blue Jackets looked like the Pittsburgh Penguins of the
90's as they dismantled a discombobulated Sharks team that continues to play
disorganized hockey.
Losing is bad enough, but when it comes at the
hands of the league's worst team, it's an abomination. The Sharks are simply a
bad hockey team right now. Joe Pavelski can't carry this team by himself,
although he certainly tried on Tuesday night.
Head coach Peter DeBoer
seemed oblivious to his team's performance.
"I've had no problem with
out top six forwards," DeBoer said following the game. "I thought both of those
lines have shown up this season. They might not get on the board every night,
but both of them are pushing the pace."
Pavleksi scored a pair of
goals, but the Blue Jackets did him three better. This season's bad trend du
jour continues to be the Sharks inability to score first. Columbus jumped out
to a 1-0 lead 6:11 into the game when Brandon Saad chipped home a shot off a
deflection after the Blue Jackets pressured the Sharks with sustained pressure
from the get go. Martin Jones stopped Brandon Dubinsky's shot, but the rebound
bounced around the front of the crease where Saad was able to get a stick on
it.
Pavelski scored the first of his two goals with a 64 ticks left in
the opening period by tipping a Justin Braun shot from the top of the goal
mouth. Braun unleashed his shot from the high slot before Pavelski redirected
it past Sergei Bobrovsky.
Jones had 98% of the net covered midway
through the 2nd period, but Scott Harrtnell found the open 2% with a crazy shot
from outside the left post after pivoting 180 degrees with the puck. With Mike
Brown draped all over him, Hartnell spun on his heels and sniped a shot from 12
feet that zipped past Jones right ear for his 5th tally of the season.
Once again, Pavelski tied the game after Joonas Donskoi picked Nick Foligno's
pocket near the Columbus blueline as the Blue Jackets tried to exit their zone.
Donskoi spotted Pavelski lurking in front of the Blue Jackets net, zipping a
pass to the Sharks captain. Pavelski put on a double move on Bobrovsky then
lifted a shot top shelf for his 8th goal of the season.
San Jose went into brain freeze the last two minutes
of the period to turn a tie game into an insurmountable Columbus lead. Jones
and Brent Burns crossed each other as a puck floated behind the Sharks net,
deflecting a Hartnell pass out front to Boone Jenner. Jones was late to get
back to his crease, allowing Jenner to snap a shot 5-hole for the 3-2 Blue
Jackets lead.
Rather than buckle down with a minute left in the
period, the Sharks packed it in, allowing the Blue Jackets to force the issue
in the San Jose end. Ryan Murray added a 4th goal as a result just 29 seconds
after Jenner's goal to give the Blue Jackets the two-goal cushion heading into
the 2nd intermission.
Jenner's goal was tough, but Murray's goal was a
back-breaker.
DeBoer tried to get his team's attention by pulling
Jones to start the 3rd period, but it was a meaningless gesture.
San
Jose orchestrated an attack from arm's length in the 3rd period by throwing 18
shots at Bobrovsky. Only problem is, half those shots came from outside of 40
feet, and San Jose only generated 2 shot from inside 15 feet. Bobrovsky, the
former Vezina Award Winner, snacked on those shot attempts.
Alex
Stalock faced only 2 shots in the period, but Columbus capitalized on an empty
net to add a 5th goal. The few fans that even elected to stick around for the
final horn voiced their displeasure in the product thrown out on the ice.
"I thought it was a great game by our whole team," said defenseman
Jack Johnson. "Some nights you play hard and the effort is there but the
results are not. Tonight we got it done and got the road trip started on the
right foot."
In '91, fans expected their team to struggle. 25 years
later, fans expect more from a franchise that has had more than their fair
share of chances. Tuesday night brought back a lot of bad memories, when it was
supposed to memorialize a piece of the team's history.
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What did you
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
CBJ |
1 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
SJ |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
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1st period - 1, CBJ,
Saad 5 (Dubinsky, Connauton), 6:11, (pp). 2, SJ, Pavelski 7 (Braun, Thornton),
18:56. |
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2nd period - 3, CBJ,
Hartnell 5 (Johansen), 8:54. 4, SJ, Pavelski 8 (Donskoi), 11:56. 5, CBJ, Jenner
7 (Hartnell), 18:32. 6, CBJ, Murray 2 (Johansen, Saad), 19:01. |
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3rd period - 7, CBJ,
Calvert 2 (Campbell, Murray), 18:21, (en). |
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1st period - Tierney, SJ
(slashing), 1:39; Dillon, SJ (holding), 4:23; Campbell, CBJ, (fighting major),
12:07; Brown, SJ (fighting major), 12:07. |
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2nd period - Tyutin, CBJ
(hooking), 3:04; Bench, CBJ (too many men), 6:11; Johnson, CBJ (high sticking),
14:37. |
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3rd period - Dubinsky,
CBJ (cross checking), 7:33. |
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Shots |
Saves |
CBJ - Bobrovsky |
43 |
41 |
SJ - Jones |
21 |
17 |
SJ - Stalock |
2 |
2 |
SJ - empty net |
1 |
0 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
CBJ |
13 |
8 |
3 |
24 |
SJ |
10 |
15 |
18 |
43 |
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Referees: Jackson,
Kowal. Linesmen: Heyer, Grandt. |
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