Photo courtesy of San Jose Sharks.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

SAN JOSE- The Sharks looked to continue their winning ways against one of the bottom-feeders in the East the Columbus Blue Jackets.

In goal for the Sharks was Kaapo Kahkonen who’s last game was against the Jets when he made 38 saves but still lost. On the other side Elvis Merzlikins was in between the pipes who despite his trade requests is still stuck in Columbus with a 3.21 GAA and .904 SV%.

If you were looking to watch sloppy hockey you got just that to start in this one as it was turnovers galore on both sides. Obviously not all that surprising considering the standing of both teams.

Through all of the sloppiness a moment of beauty shined though as Anthony Duclair got loose for a breakaway. With a Kucherov like move he slipped the puck between Merzlikins legs putting the home crowd on their feet and scoring his 10th of the season.

Then it was Johnny Gaudrea’s turn to get a breakaway but despite getting Kahkonen on the deke Kaapo was still able to poke the puck away at the last minute. The Sharks then decided to let Gaudreau have another breakaway and this time he rang it off the post.

The Sharks luck eventually ran out though as Zach Werenski ripped one past a screened Kahkonen 15:16 into the period tying the game.

Columbus continued to push and less than a minute later Kirill Marchenko beat Kahkonen short side on one that he’d probably want back making it 2-1.

The middle frame saw more loose play as both teams exchanged chances. After a shot from the point Kahkonen struggled to carroll the rebound and sitting on the door step was Dmitri Voronkov who slammed the puck home.

With the life sucked out of the building the Sharks needed a quick response and they’d get just that as just 20 seconds later Duclair buried his second of the night. The goal came off a beautiful feed from Zetterlund who zipped one across to the streaking winger for the tally.

Later in the period Voronkov found himself in the penalty box putting the Sharks on their third power play of the game. On the power play this time it would be Zetterlund receiving the pass as he one timed home a beautiful feed from Calen Addison.

The final frame ended up being quite the opposite of the first two as the team tightened up their play.

It took until the dying moments when Boone Jenner broke past the defense and found himself one-on-one with Kahkonen. Jenner ended up making the right move as he deked to his backhand and snuck one in between Kahkonen’s pads. With only 12.9 seconds left on the clock San Jose did pull their goalie but to no avail as they’d lose 4-3.

The loss drops the Sharks to 15-34-5 while the Blue Jackets improve to 16-26-10.

Special teams favored the Sharks in this one as they went 1/4 while Columbus went 0/3.

The three stars of the game were: 1st Boone Jenner 2nd: Anthony Duclair 3rd: Fabian Zetterlund

The Sharks will look to bounce back on this home stand against Vegas on Monday at 1 p.m.