The Sharks got a shot in the arm with the
return of Macklin Celebrini on Tuesday night as San Jose hosted the Columbus
Blue Jackets at SAP Center. The spotlight has been in the rookie forward but on
this night goaltender Vitek Vanecek was the man of the hour. Vanecek made a
career high 49 saves to help the Sharks take a tight 2-1 overtime win.
If it was San Jose's intent to try and drive up their goaltender's save
percentage, they did a valiant job. Vanecek faced 13, 17, 19 and 2 shots by
period but only allowed the lone goal to bail out his teammates who hung out
the goaltender in a critical 3rd period.
San Jose withstood the
onslaught of shots on goal to get the game to overtime where Alexander Wennberg
scored a highlight reel goal. The forward skated the puck out of his own zone
right up the gut, then raced past Sean Monahan. After whipping past the
centerman, Wennberg cut to his left, getting Zach Werenski turned around before
pulling a shot across his body to put the puck in the upper right corner of the
net.
The Sharks got a slow start out of the gate, partially due to a
tripping penalty by Timothy Liljegren 1:08 into the game. Celebrini made his
return to the ice after a 12 game absence and was called for holding 3 minutes
later, but a David Jiricek interference infraction on the delayed penalty call
balanced the ice.
The Blue Jackets held a 13-6 edge in shots after 20
minutes, but neither team would score in the opening frame.
Carl
Grundstrom appeared to have his first goal as a Shark 8 minutes into the 2nd
period, but a video replay clearly showed that the sharks forward entered the
offensive zone prior to the puck.
Ivan Provorov was sent off for
interference at 9:16 after he wiped out Grundstrom at center ice. San Jose
would let the opportunity go by without cashing in, keeping the game scoreless
through the first half of the contest.
Jake Christiansen was called
for cross checking at 16:45 setting up the Sharks 3rd power play of the night.
San Jose wouldn't score with the extra attacker, but rookie defenseman Jack
Thompson scored his 1st career NHL goal 4 seconds after Christiansen stepped on
the ice.
Fabian Zetterlund moved the puck over to Will Smith
on the right wing, drawing goaltender Elvis Merzlikins over to the right post.
Smith immediately sent a pass through the slot to Thompson on the left dot,
where the defenseman ripped it home.
Columbus had to turn up the heat
in the 3rd period. Vanecek was particularly good with 12 minutes to play when
he turned aside 4 consecutive shots from in close after the Sharks fell back on
their heels.
Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky called a timeout
immediately following that sequence to call for more urgency from his team.
That speech went in one ear and out the other as the Blue Jackets would tie the
game 2 minutes later when Kirill Marchenko lifted a shot past Vanecek on the
45th shot of the game for Columbus.
The game would head to the extra
period where the Sharks finally out-shot Columbus. San Jose would put 3 shots
on Merzlikins, including a nifty scoring chance by Celebrini.
Wennberg
ended things with his heroics at the 3:11 mark to give San Jose their 4th win
in the last 5 games.
Game Notes: * There were tributes
to the late Johhny and Mathew Gaudreau present at SAP on Tuesday night. Former
bluecoat Susie Diaz had "13" pins made for all the users. Sadly Diaz passed in
September, but her family made sure the pins were delivered for the game.
* Cody Ceci played in his 800th NHL game.
* Former Sharks
Kevin Labanc made his return to SAP Center as a member of the Blue Jackets.
* Vitek Vanecek's previous carrier high for saves was 45. Vanecek also
was credited with the secondary assist on Alexander Wennberg's game winning
goal.
* The Sharks recorded more hits (23 vs 17) and blocked shots (16
vs 11) then their opponent. Columbus held a slight advantage in faceoff wins
(52% vs 48%) to go along with the massive shot advantage (50 to 27).
