Jonathan Cheechoo recorded his second hat trick in 16 days and
Joe Thornton moved into second pace in the NHL scoring chase with
four points in a 6-3 San Jose Sharks victory over the Columbus Blue
Jackets at HP Pavilion at San Jose.
San Jose – Jonathan Cheechoo recorded his second hat trick in 16 days and Joe Thornton moved into second pace in the NHL scoring chase with four points in a 6-3 San Jose Sharks victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at HP Pavilion at San Jose.
Cheechoo completed the hat trick at 6:56 of the third period when he redirected a Nils Ekman pass into the net on a 2-on-0 break during a power play to complete the scoring. Cheechoo tops the league in goals since Dec. 1 with 16. Ekman tied a franchise record for points in a two-game span, eight, with his third helper of the night. The winger has a goal and three assists in each of his last two games.
Joe Thornton moved into a tie with Ilya Kovalchuk with 58 points, trailing only Jaromir Jagr (63).
The win allowed San Jose to move above .500, 17-16-5, with 39 points in 38 games.
“The puck’s been finding me in the right spots,” Cheechoo said of his recent offensive explosion.
“Cheech has the hot hand right now,” added Thornton. “I try to feed him. He’s finding the back of the net. Ek’s a great playmaker, sees the ice real well. He complements me and Cheech.”
Columbus entered the goal with the fewest goals among the 30 NHL teams, just 82 in 39 starts. Every other club had at least 103, with San Jose good for 114 in 37 outings.
San Jose appeared ready to continue the Blue Jackets’ slide by registering two goals by the 7:33 mark of the first period.
Cheechoo, honored as the Seagate Technology “Sharks Player of the Month” prior to the game, made it 1-0 San Jose 3:58 into action.
Ekman ignited the scoring chance with a crisp shot from the left point that Blue Jackets goalie Marc Denis repelled. The short rebound skimmed to Thornton, who slid the puck to an open Cheechoo for a spinning stuff past a prone Denis.
Cheechoo paces the Sharks with 23 goals, including at least one in each of the last four games.
Thornton garnered his second point of the game at 7:33 of the first period.
The center delivered a head-man pass to a streaking Ekman into the Columbus zone. Denis stopped the Ekman offering, but Thornton powered to the loose puck and settled it inside the netting for the 2-0 cushion.
Columbus took advantage of a two-man advantage to make it 2-1 10:42 into the first period. The Sharks were able to kill the first penalty, but All-Star wiinger Rick Nash solved goalie Vesa Toskala from five feet out off a rebound for the initial Blue Jackets tally on the power play.
Columbus needed just 91 seconds to pull even. Center Dan Fritsche banged a long shot around the back of the San Jose zone. Winger Mike Rupp was able to collect the puckhigh along the left boards, then send it toward the Sharks net and between Toskala’s pads The 40-foot wrister came at 12:13 of play.
San Jose popped in two goals in the second period for a 4-2 edge. The Sharks owned a 9-2 record when leading after two periods, while the Blue Jackets were 4-21-1 when trailing after two.
Thornton netted his third point of the contest 2:50 into the third period.
Thornton won a face-off in the offensive zone, pulling the puck to Ekman. A follow-up short pass set up Cheechoo for a one-timer to the top right corner of the net.
“It was nice to get that third one to get us going again,” Cheechoo said of the tie-breaking goal.
Grant Stevenson made it 4-2 at the 10:31 mark of the second period. Marcel Koc keyed the goal by pulling in a wide shot along the Columbus net, tapping the puck through his legs to Milan Michalek at the edge of the crease. Denis blocked the Michalek offering but could not prevent Stevenson from pushing the rebound under the netminder.
After Columbus climbed within one goal on Nash’s second of the night just 25 seconds into the third period, San Jose’s Christian Ehrhoff netted the second goal of his career at 5:41 to regain the two-goal advantage.
Sharks Notebook: Up Next
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