NHL FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL --- --- --- ----- COLUMBUS 2 0 0 2 SAN JOSE 4 3 3 10 FINAL
GOAL SCORING:
1ST PRD: SAN - (PP) MIKE RATHJE 3 (BRYAN MARCHMENT, MARCUS RAGNARSSON) 3:47 SAN - (PP) VINCENT DAMPHOUSSE 17 (OWEN NOLAN, TEEMU SELANNE) 6:38 SAN - VINCENT DAMPHOUSSE 18 (OWEN NOLAN, ADAM GRAVES) 8:53 COB - GEOFF SANDERSON 11 (UNASSISTED) 11:43 COB - RADIM BICANEK 1 (MATT DAVIDSON, ANDREJ NEDOROST) 14:02 SAN - (PP) GARY SUTER 6 (MIKE RICCI) 19:51 2ND PRD: SAN - TEEMU SELANNE 25 (ADAM GRAVES) 1:22 SAN - MARCO STURM 20 (PATRICK MARLEAU) 6:51 SAN - TEEMU SELANNE 26 (ADAM GRAVES, VINCENT DAMPHOUSSE) 13:20 3RD PRD: SAN - SCOTT THORNTON 25 (MATT BRADLEY, MARCUS RAGNARSSON) 11:08 SAN - PATRICK MARLEAU 13 (SCOTT HANNAN, BRYAN MARCHMENT) 15:46 SAN - PATRICK MARLEAU 14 (BRYAN MARCHMENT, TEEMU SELANNE) 19:45
POWER-PLAY CONVERSIONS: COB - 0 OF 3, SAN - 3 OF 3.
SHOTS ON GOAL: 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL --- --- --- ----- COB 12 12 10 34 SAN 10 10 11 31
GOALIES: COB - MARC DENIS, RON TUGNUTT (8:53, 1ST) SAN - MIIKKA KIPRUSOFF
OFFICIALS: REF - IAN WALSH, TERRY GREGSON LIN - BRIAN MACH, THOR NELSON
ATT: 17,496
Box Score------------------------------------ Columbus 2 0 0 --2 San Jose 4 3 3 --10 ------------------------------------
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, San Jose, Mike Rathje 3 (power play) (Patrick Marleau, Marcus Ragnarsson), 3:47. 2, San Jose, Vincent Damphousse 17 (power play) (Owen Nolan, Teemu Selanne), 6:38. 3, San Jose, Vincent Damphousse 18 (Owen Nolan), 8:53. 4, Columbus, Geoff Sanderson 11 (Unassisted), 11:43. 5, Columbus, Radim Bicanek 1 (Matt Davidson, Andrej Nedorost), 14:02. 6, San Jose, Gary Suter 6 (power play) (Mike Ricci), 19:51. Penalties: R Bicanek, Cob (holding), 2:07; R Klesla, Cob (interference), 5:40; J Shelley, Cob (unsportsmanlike cond), 9:58; M Smith, San (unsportsmanlike cond), 9:58; S Hannan, San (slashing), 15:52; C Nielsen, Cob (boarding), 18:52.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 7, San Jose, Teemu Selanne 25 (Adam Graves), 1:22. 8, San Jose, Marco Sturm 20 (Patrick Marleau), 6:51. 9, San Jose, Teemu Selanne 26 (Adam Graves, Vincent Damphousse), 13:20. Penalties: M Sillinger, Cob ( misconduct), 1:22; J Shelley, Cob (roughing), 5:52; B Marchment, San (holding stick), 5:52; V Damphousse, San (high sticking), 14:17; B Marchment, San (hooking), 18:26.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 10, San Jose, Scott Thornton 25 (Matt Bradley, Marcus Ragnarsson), 11:08. 11, San Jose, Patrick Marleau 13 (Scott Hannan, Bryan Marchment), 15:46. 12, San Jose, Patrick Marleau 14 (Bryan Marchment, Teemu Selanne), 19:45.
Shots on goal: --------------------------------------- Columbus 12 12 10 --34 San Jose 10 10 11 --31 ---------------------------------------
Power-play Conversions: Columbus - 0 of 3, San Jose - 3 of 3. Goalies : Columbus, Marc Denis (11 shots, 8 saves; record: 8-20-5), Ron Tugnutt (8:53 of 1st period, 20, 14). San Jose, Miikka Kiprusoff (34 shots, 32 saves; record: 7-5-3). A: 17,496. Referees: Ian Walsh, Terry Gregson. Linesmen: Brian Mach, Thor Nelson.
How They Scored----------------------------------------- COLUMBUS 2 0 0 --2 SAN JOSE 4 3 3 --10 -----------------------------------------
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, San Jose, Mike Rathje 3 (power play) (Patrick Marleau, Marcus Ragnarsson), 3:47. 2, San Jose, Vincent Damphousse 17 (power play) (Owen Nolan, Teemu Selanne), 6:38. 3, San Jose, Vincent Damphousse 18 (Owen Nolan), 8:53. 4, Columbus, Geoff Sanderson 11 (Unassisted), 11:43. 5, Columbus, Radim Bicanek 1 (Matt Davidson, Andrej Nedorost), 14:02. 6, San Jose, Gary Suter 6 (power play) (Mike Ricci), 19:51. Penalties: R Bicanek, Cob (holding), 2:07; R Klesla, Cob (interference), 5:40; J Shelley, Cob (unsportsmanlike cond), 9:58; M Smith, San (unsportsmanlike cond), 9:58; S Hannan, San (slashing), 15:52; C Nielsen, Cob (boarding), 18:52.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 7, San Jose, Teemu Selanne 25 (Adam Graves), 1:22. 8, San Jose, Marco Sturm 20 (Patrick Marleau), 6:51. 9, San Jose, Teemu Selanne 26 (Adam Graves, Vincent Damphousse), 13:20. Penalties: M Sillinger, Cob ( misconduct), 1:22; J Shelley, Cob (roughing), 5:52; B Marchment, San (holding stick), 5:52; V Damphousse, San (high sticking), 14:17; B Marchment, San (hooking), 18:26.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 10, San Jose, Scott Thornton 25 (Matt Bradley, Marcus Ragnarsson), 11:08. 11, San Jose, Patrick Marleau 13 (Scott Hannan, Bryan Marchment), 15:46. 12, San Jose, Patrick Marleau 14 (Bryan Marchment, Teemu Selanne), 19:45.
Shots on goal: ---------------------------------------- COLUMBUS 12 12 10 --34 SAN JOSE 10 10 11 --31 ----------------------------------------
Power-play Conversions: COB - 0 of 3, SAN - 3 of 3. Goalies : Columbus, Marc Denis (11 shots, 8 saves; record: 8-20-5), Ron Tugnutt (8:53 of 1st period, 20, 14). San Jose, Miikka Kiprusoff (34 shots, 32 saves; record: 7-5-3). A: 17,496. Referees: Ian Walsh, Terry Gregson. Linesmen: Brian Mach, Thor Nelson.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS
COLUMBUS SAN JOSE G A +/- Shots G A +/- Shots S Pronger 0 0 -2 1 M Ragnarsson 0 2 even 0 R Whitney 0 0 -2 3 O Nolan 0 2 even 6 M Sillinger 0 0 -1 2 P Marleau 2 2 +3 2 E Knutsen 0 0 -3 0 M Smith 0 0 +2 0 C Nielsen 0 0 even 3 S Thornton 1 0 even 2 A Nedorost 0 1 -1 0 M Ricci 0 1 even 2 T Wright 0 0 -1 1 M Sturm 1 0 +1 2 J Spacek 0 0 -3 2 M Rathje 1 0 even 1 R Bicanek 1 0 -2 1 G Suter 1 0 +1 3 J Allison 0 0 -2 1 S Hannan 0 1 +4 1 J Grand-Pierre 0 0 -1 2 V Damphousse 2 1 +2 3 M Timander 0 0 -1 0 B Marchment 0 2 +4 2 M Davidson 0 1 even 5 M Bradley 0 1 +2 1 R Klesla 0 0 even 1 J Jillson 0 0 even 0 J Shelley 0 0 even 2 B Stuart 0 0 +1 3 D Quint 0 0 -1 4 T Selanne 2 2 +2 3 G Sanderson 1 0 -2 4 A Graves 0 2 +3 0 D Vyborny 0 0 -3 2 H Hyvonen 0 0 even 0 G Marshall NA N Sundstrom NA R Kron NA S Matteau NA S Aubin NA A Korolyuk NA K Dineen NA S Heins NA
Game StorySAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- Locked in a tight playoff race, the San Jose Sharks were taking no chances.
The Sharks erupted for seven unaswered goals and widened their lead atop the Pacific Division with a 10-2 thumping of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Teemu Selanne and Patrick Marleau each had two goals and two assists and Vincent Damphousse added two goals and an assist as San Jose moved two points ahead of second-place Phoenix and three in front of Los Angeles.
The Sharks also inched closer to the second seed in the Western Conference, taking advantage of Saturday's loss by Colorado to climb within a point of the Northwest Division leaders.
San Jose captain Owen Nolan, who collected two assists, felt his team was in a must-win situation.
"That's kind of the attitude we had," he said. "We knew if we came out with a lot of firepower that (the Blue Jackets would) probably shut it down. They have nothing to play for. Obviously, they're going to play the game, but we wanted to take the tone of the game, play it at our level and make them try to match it and try to get them to lose interest right away."
After Radim Bicanek scored the first goal of his seven-year career at 14:02 of the first period to pull Columbus within 3-2, fellow defenseman Gary Suter started the Sharks' onslaught with a power-play tally with nine seconds remaining in the period.
Marleau closed the scoring with his second straight goal with 15 seconds to play in the third.
The 10 goals were the most scored at home in team history, surpassing the nine San Jose had in a victory over Winnipeg on March 29, 1994. The Sharks posted a 10-8 triumph at Pittsburgh on January 13, 1996.
"I'm only concerned with one thing -- win," San Jose coach Darryl Sutter said. "I think our team (feels that way), too. We wanted to try to pick up where we left off against Dallas and Colorado, and we did that."
Geoff Sanderson notched an unassisted goal in the first period for Columbus, which suffered its sixth straight loss. The Blue Jackets have been outscored, 31-11, during their losing streak and fell to 0-37-2-0 when trailing after two periods.
"It was a very poor effort," Columbus coach Dave King said. "I thought we rallied back to make it 3-2 and it looked like we were going to be in the game, and then we gave up that late goal with nine seconds left in the period. All of a sudden it's 4-2 and we lose our will to play. After that and the last two periods, it was very poor."
The Blue Jackets appear to have little chance to make up the 11 points that keep them in last place in the West.
"We think we've got something to play for," King said. "We think our games are meaningful games. We think we've still got a role to play in the regular season. So we're disappointed in our effort tonight because we can be a team that can be a spoiler. And that's a great role to have late in the season. ... We were our own worst enemy tonight."
Marc Denis surrendered three goals on 11 shots and was replaced 8:53 into the first by Ron Tugnutt, who fared no better, giving up six goals on 20 shots.
"I thought both goalies didn't get a lot of help and didn't have great nights, but we didn't help them very much either," King said. "We didn't give them a lot of protection. They had some good high-scoring chances and they went in. They all went in."
The Sharks wasted little time in getting to Denis as defenseman Mike Rathje scored on the power play 3:47 into the game. A little less than three minutes later, Damphousse also struck with the man advantage, then added his 18th of the season to chase Denis.
Sanderson answered at 11:43 with his 11th goal and Bicanek put in his first in 119 games less than three minutes later
"Well, I don't think the spoiler role really came into effect tonight," Sanderson said. "(The Sharks) got their playoff spot secured, so it's just a matter of us. We've got to be better prepared to play these teams. You know, this is one of the best teams in the league. And right from the drop of the puck, we weren't prepared to battle. The only thing we can take from this game is that we've got to learn if we don't play well against these elite teams, if we don't have that fear of being emarrassed, like what happened tonight, at the start of the game, then we can't compete with them."
San Jose responded in a big way. After Suter's sixth goal at the close of the first period, the Sharks scored three times in the second and three more in the third.
"We got the quick three goals and then let up a little bit," Nolan said. "A couple of mistakes, then they scored one and they started to get a little momentum. But we stayed focused and kept plugging away and we just took the game over from there."
Selanne scored twice around Marco Sturm's 20th goal, regaining the team lead with his 26th at 13:20 of the second. The Finnish sniper reached that total for the seventh straight season.
Scott Thornton continued his hot streak at 11:08 with his 25th goal of the campaign and fifth in the last seven games.
Marleau scored twice in the final five minutes for his first two-goal game since January 4.
Despite getting outshot, 34-31, the Sharks improved to 5-2-0 all-time against Columbus. They held the Blue Jackets scoreless in three power-play chances and are 14-for-15 on the penalty kill vs. Columbus.