Marleau Scores Twice, Sharks Beat Blue Jackets In Shootout
COLUMBUS, Ohio (CBS / AP) -- Patrick Marleau scored twice and Joe Pavelski had the lone shootout goal in the San Jose Sharks' 4-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
After tying his career high of 66 points with an assist on Marleau's second goal, Pavelski deked Sergei Bobrovsky and roofed a backhander in the tiebreaker to give San Jose its fourth straight win.
Marleau scored his 27th and 28th goals. Matt Nieto also scored and Logan Couture had two assists for the Sharks, who are 8-1-1 in their last 10 to move into a tie with Anaheim for the Pacific Division lead.
Backup goalie Alex Stalock made 35 saves, including a spectacular post-to-post stop on Jack Johnson with seconds remaining in regulation and Columbus on the power play.
Ryan Johansen, R. J. Umberger and James Wisniewski scored for the Blue Jackets. Brandon Dubkinsky added two assists for Columbus, 17-7-2 since Jan. 1.
After squandering a 2-1 lead early in the third period, the Blue Jackets tied it on Wisniewski's slap shot into the top left corner from the right circle with 4:58 remaining.
San Jose had scored twice just under 6 minutes into the period to take the lead on a few uncharacteristic plays by Bobrovsky.
Only 15 seconds in, a long rebound off Bobrovksy sat in the slot and Nieto easily fired it home. Later on the power play, Columbus couldn't convert on a two-on-one leading to a 4-on-1 for the Sharks. Pavelski fed Marleau, with Bobrovsky a bit too deep in his net. The man-advantage goal was the first for San Jose in its last seven games.
Johansen opened the scoring at 5:28 of the first period with his 26th. Johansen snapped home a loose puck from between the circles through traffic.
Marleau tied it 5 minutes later on a sequence jump-started by poor puck management by defenseman David Savard. Logan Couture got the puck and centered it from the right boards to an open Marleau at the crease for the one timer.
In the second period, the Blue Jackets quickly got into penalty trouble, giving the Sharks a two-man advantage for 36 seconds. But it was the Blue Jackets who capitalized. After the first penalty expired, Umberger stepped out of the box, took a long pass in stride from Dubinsky and beat Stalock between the pads for his 18th.
Notes: Columbus' Artem Anisimov, who has six goals in his last seven games, didn't play due to birth of his first child Thursday. ... San Jose is 19-6-3 against Eastern Conference teams. ... Blue Jackets RW Nathan Horton donated 1,000 tickets for "first responders" to attend the game. ... Columbus Russian D Fedor Tyutin took the morning skate and is getting close to returning from an ankle injury he suffered in the Olympics.
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