Marleau's Late Goal Lifts Sharks
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) ― Patrick Marleau scored from a sharp angle with 4:51 left to lift San Jose to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night.
The Sharks have earned at least one point in 10 straight games (9-0-1).
Joe Pavelski dug the puck off the back wall and passed to Marleau, who flipped the puck at goalie Steve Mason from a couple of feet away from the goal line on the left wing. Pavelski helped distract Mason as the puck slipped into the net.
Kent Huskins and Kyle Wellwood also scored for the Sharks, who have won five straight. Antti Niemi made 42 saves.
Marleau had an assist to go with his goal, and Pavelski had two assists as the Sharks rallied from a 2-0 deficit. The Blue Jackets had applied most of the pressure in the third period before Marleau's goal, outshooting the Sharks 16-9 in the period and 44-32 overall.
Kristian Huselius and Grant Clitsome had first-period, power-play goals for the Blue Jackets, who had won three in a row.
The loss damaged Columbus' playoff hopes. The Blue Jackets began the night four points out of eighth place in the Western Conference.
After the Blue Jackets set the pace in the opening period, the Sharks dominated the second.
They cut the lead to 2-1 about 2 minutes in when Huskins scored his first of the season — in his 45th game — with an otherwise innocent shot from the left point. Mason was screened by teammate Kris Russell, and the puck might have been tipped as it slowly made its way from the blue line.
The Sharks failed to convert on two power plays before tying the game later in the period.
San Jose controlled play in the offensive zone, and Logan Couture's centering pass from the left of the net deflected off Ryane Clowe's skate. The puck bounced to Wellwood near the right hash and he punched it in for his second of the season.
Huselius, who earlier in the power play had given up the puck with a bad pass, scored his 12th on a wrister from the top of the right circle. The shot went through the legs of Huskins and then through the legs of Blue Jackets forward R.J. Umberger, who was providing traffic in front.
The Blue Jackets were 0 for 13 with a man advantage the last four games, yet they made it 2 for 2 on the power play with 9 seconds left in the opening period.
Clitsome's hard slap shot from just outside the left dot beat Niemi on the glove side.
The Blue Jackets had mustered two power-play goals in one of their previous 53 games
Notes: With three weeks left until the NHL trade deadline, there were scouts from Vancouver, Colorado, Atlanta, Carolina, the New York Islanders, Tampa Bay and Detroit in attendance. ... San Jose's Devin Setoguchi had his six-game point streak end. ... D Fedor Tyutin was on the ice for Columbus, 24 hours after he was crunched headfirst into the boards on a flagrant hit by Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke. Cooke was suspended four games by the NHL for the hit.
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