Football
20y

San Jose takes team-record 50 shots

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The goalie didn't see the puck. Neither
did the defenseman. Marco Sturm sure did.

Sturm jammed in a loose puck with 16.1 seconds left in overtime
-- on the Sharks' franchise-record 50th shot -- to give San Jose a
2-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night.

Marc Denis, who set a Columbus record with 48 saves, appeared to
have covered Patrick Marleau's shot. But Sturm swooped in near the
left post and got a stick on the puck as it popped loose off Denis'
leg pad, pushing it into the net while shadowed by a defenseman for
his 16th goal of the season.

"It was kind of funny because [Marleau's] shot wasn't really
hard," Sturm said. "The goalie didn't see it at all. It was
laying right there, between the posts and his pad. I got lucky that
the defenseman didn't see it either, and I put it in."

It was the Sharks' first overtime victory of the season after going 0-5-11 in their first 16 extra periods. Sturm's goal also ended the Sharks'
four-game road losing skid.

San Jose dominated the game, continually controlling the puck,
yet easily could have lost.

"You just fear that as the game goes on, it's going to be a bad
bounce or a mistake that gets you," coach Ron Wilson said.

Brad Stuart, who also assisted on Sturm's goal, notched his
fourth goal for the Sharks, and Evgeni Nabokov made 23 saves.

The 50 shots on goal broke the previous San Jose record of 45
set earlier this season against Phoenix.

"We just tried to keep shooting the puck, keep it wide, put it
on net and see what happens," said Stuart, who hadn't scored a
goal in 33 games since Nov. 30 at Edmonton. "Sometimes it pays
off, sometimes it doesn't. We were lucky enough to score in the
final seconds of the game."

Geoff Sanderson scored the only goal for Columbus, which had won
its last two at home. The Blue Jackets were 4-0-4 in their last
eight overtime games -- all under interim coach Gerard Gallant.

"We can't play like that. We played like a bunch of individuals
tonight. It wasn't a team game," Gallant said. "That's why they
deserve to win in overtime. The whole game they dominated, from the
10-minute mark of the first period on. One guy [Denis] scored a
point for us tonight."

Denis said setting the team record for saves meant nothing.

"All that is erased by the end result," he said.

Sanderson put the Blue Jackets ahead 3:14 into the opening
period when Alexander Svitov's centering pass from the right boards
ricocheted off a defenseman's skate and ended up on Sanderson's
stick behind the goal cage. Sanderson's wraparound slipped through
the leg pads of Nabokov for his 10th goal of the season.

The Sharks pulled even later in the period when Denis blocked
Alex Korolyuk's blast from the left circle, but Stuart slapped
in the rebound for his seventh.

There were plenty of close calls for both teams.

Rick Nash, leading the NHL with 31 goals, ended up with the puck
all alone in the slot after a turnover early in the final period.
He put a move on Nabokov and drilled a shot that clanged off the
left post.

Three times, the Sharks had shots hit the pipes. Wayne Primeau,
Alyn McCauley and Korolyuk each had shots in the second
period that eluded Denis but caught metal.

The Blue Jackets cycled the puck after San Jose's Scott Hannan
was called for a holding penalty 2:09 into the overtime, but they
never mustered a shot.

"That was an unbelievable penalty kill in overtime," Wilson
said.

Stuart passed to Marleau to initiate the final rush that led to
Sturm's game-winner. Sturm said he was worried that the referee
might blow the play dead before he could get his stick on the puck.

"It was kind of there for a couple of seconds," he said.

The teams failed to score on four power-play chances apiece.

Game notes
The Sharks played their third game of a six-game road trip.
They play at Philadelphia, Nashville and Chicago next week. ...
Columbus recalled RW David Ling from AHL Syracuse in time for him
to play against the Sharks. ... The game was the 100th sellout in
Columbus' 154 home games.

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