by Jerry Feitelberg

PHOTO 5 OF 28 – SAN JOSE SHARKS VS. COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS COLUMBUS, OH – MARCH 13: Matt Irwin #52 of the San Jose Sharks checks Cam Atkinson #13 of the Columbus Blue Jackets into the boards during the first period on March 13, 2014 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images)

Sharks win in a shoot out, tie for first place

The San Jose Sharks (43-17-7) beat a young and very determined Columbus Blue Jacket (34-27-5) team Thursday night in Columbus by a score of 4-3. For the Sharks, it was their fourth win in a row and with the win they moved into a first place tie with the Anaheim Ducks in the Pacific Division.

The one sour note is that the Ducks have a game in hand and the lead may be short-lived.

Nonetheless, the Sharks won the first game of a short three game road trip against a Blue Jacket team that is striving to make the playoffs for only the second time in their

existence as a franchise in the NHL.

The Sharks gave regular goalie, Antti Niemi, the night off and replaced him with backup goalie Alex Stalock (11-4-1) in the nets. Stalock played very well and came up big in the shoot out as he stopped all three attempts by the Blue Jackets. Reigning Vezina Trophy winner, Sergei Bobrovsky, tended goal for the Blue Jackets. The Sharks had their hands full trying to beat Bobrovsky but they persevered and

kept the pressure on to win the game. The scoring summary follows below.

Columbus drew first blood when Ryan Johansen notched his 26th goal of the year. Johansen sent a wrist shot past Stalock when teammate Nick Foligno sprawled himself in front of the goal blocking Stalock’s view and Johansen put the shot into the back of the net. Foligno and Boone Jenner assisted. Time of goal was 5:28. The Sharks tied the game at 10:53 when Patrick Marleau tipped in a puck for his 27th tally of the season. Logan Couture fed the puck from the corner and Marleau skating to the net tipped it in past Bobrovsky for the score. Game tied at one. The Blue Jackets had eleven shots on goal while the Sharks were able to manage just nine.

In the second period, the Sharks went on a power play when R. J. Umberger went off for tripping.

At 2:22 David Savard also was hit with a penalty that gave the Sharks a 5 on 3 advantage. The Sharks could not take advantage of the situation and then, to make matters worse, Umberger, coming out of the penalty box, was able to get a pass and had a breakaway to score a short-handed goal to give Columbus a 2-1 lead. The Sharks allowed just their fourth short-handed goal of the year but it was the second one allowed in the last two games. There was no further scoring in the period. 2-1 after two periods of play.

Things did not bode well for the Sharks. Not only did the Sharks have a history of not faring well in Columbus but their record this season was 3-13-1 when trailing after two periods. The Sharks, however, came out fighting. They tied the score at two with just 15 seconds played in the period. Matt Nieto scored his ninth goal of the year with assists to Logan Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. They then look a 3-2 lead when the Sharks finally scored on a power play. They had gone 0 for 20 since play resumed after the Olympics. Patrick Marleau scored his second goal of the game with help from Joe Pavelski and Dan Boyle. Columbus refused to lay down and continued to play hard. They kept the pressure on and were able to put the puck in the net when James Wisniewski was able to beat Stalock. The Sharks were all on the right side of the net and somehow Wisniewski found himself all alone with the puck. Stalock moved out to cut down on the angle but Wisniewski banged it in over Stalock’s shoulder for the score. The game went to overtime and neither team could score. In the shootout, Stalock stopped all three Columbus attempts while Joe Pavelski beat Bobrovsky for the winning goal.

Notes- The Shark’s goalie, Alex Stalock, said that the team is a “loose group with success on the road all year.” Coach Todd McLellan had this to say about the Blue Jackets after the game. “"That team plays hard," "They’re as competitive as any team in the league. They’re physical. They’ve got good body position when they enter the zone. They throw a lot of pucks to the net. If we weren’t ready to go we wouldn’t have come close to getting the result we got tonight."

The Sharks play the Islanders on Friday night and finish the road trip Sunday against the New York Rangers.