It was all Blue Jackets right from the drop of the puck as the Sharks lost their fifth straight game as they played their first game in the Eastern Time zone.

“Outworked, out executed, out detailed, out goaltended” were some of the choice words chosen by Todd McLellan when he described his team’s efforts tonight.
“It’s a pretty simple league, the team that works the hardest wins.”

Many Blue Jackets got off the schnied netting their first goals of the season on Monday night in a 6-1 drubbing of the Sharks. Brandon Dubinsky, Nikita Nikitin, and Cody Goloubef all scored their first goals of the season and Goloubef bagged his first NHL goal.

Columbus welcomed San Jose with goals in the opening minute of the first and third periods. They spread around the scoring with fourteen different players on the score sheet.

The Sharks left for Columbus Saturday afternoon after the 1-0 shootout loss to Phoenix but the extra two days in the Eastern Time zone didn’t do them any favors.

The Blue Jackets peppered Devan Dubnyk of the Edmonton Oilers last night with 40 shots and only had one goal to show for it in a 3-1 loss. They came out hungry and determined to fill the net and they did just that against the Sharks backup Thomas Greiss.

Things came pretty easy for San Jose in the early part of the season, but teams are now rolling and they have figured out if you shut down the Thornton line as well as Logan Couture and you can shut down the Sharks. San Jose looks as though they are playing with heavy legs and if that continues we will hear that this veteran crew has missed their window to win and that it is time to rebuild.

We’ve seen this lethargic approach before from the Sharks but not twelve games into the season. The question is how long it will take to get this team out of the current funk they are in.

“No explanation for it, we should be fresh, we have no excuses about looking tired. We looked lethargic, we looked slow, we just weren’t any good” said head coach Todd McLellan as he looked visibly upset after the game.
“I’m disappointed in a lot of individuals. We’ll have to have a real frank discussion about what we do and we don’t do.”

The good news for San Jose is that they suit up tomorrow in Nashville at 5pm. The Predators are a stingy team and it will take a lot of discipline and good positional play to come away with a win.

The issues plaguing the Sharks are the same things that they struggled with early in the season; the difference is that they got away with it in the first seven games. That is of course someone other than the top line and Couture has to fill the net.

Scoring details

1st period

CBJ – 0:43 –EV – 17 B.Dubinsky(1) – assists – 11 M.Calvert(1), 51 F.Tyutin(9)

2nd period

CBJ – 13:05 –PP – 21 J.Wisniewski(3) – assists – 16 D.Brassard(5), 18 R.Umberger(2)

CBJ – 14:16 –EV – 48 C.Goloubef(1) – assists – 24 D.Mackenzie(1), 71 N.Foligno(3)

SJ – 14:29 –EV – 12 P.Marleau(10) – assists – 39 L.Couture(6), 3 D,Murray(1)

3rd period

CBJ – 0:21 –EV – 6 N.Nikitin(1) – assists – 11 M.Calvert(2), 17 B.Dubinsky(6)

CBJ – 5:37 –PP – 22 V.Prospal(4) – assists – 71 N.Foligno(4), 7 J.Johnson(4)

CBJ – 5:45 –EV – 10 M.Letestu(5) – assist 42 A.Anisimov(2)

SJ – 18:08 –PP – J.Pavelski(8) – assists – 22 D.Boyle(6), 19 J.Thornton(12)

Turning point

The turning point in this game came 0:43 seconds into the game when the Blue Jackets lit the lamp and you could tell at that point that they wanted it more.

Contenders & Pretenders

Contenders

Nick Foligno – is the first contender of the game for a few reasons. He was a plus three on the night with two assists but he also thrilled us with an exciting end to end rush that he was millimeters away from scoring on.

Matt Pelech – makes the list for trying to spark his team with an entertaining scrap with tough guy Jared Boll. This was his first game in the NHL with San Jose and the coaches have to be impressed.

Pretenders

The Sharks team – are all on the list after that display. This wasn’t the team’s first loss, but it was the first game that they were completely out of and they were out right from the opening minute.

The Sharks are on the start of a six game road trip and it doesn’t get any easier in Nashville tomorrow then on to Chicago for a Friday night clash with the Blackhawks.

Keep your sticks on the ice,
Cam Gore

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