With the flick of his wrists, San Jose defenseman Dan Boyle kept San Jose’s streak alive in a physical game against Ken Hitchcock’s Blue Jackets.
Boyle roofed a wrist shot for the lone goal in a shootout, and Evgeni Nabokov stopped all three shooters to give the Sharks their sixth straight victory, 3-2 over Columbus on Wednesday night.
“The whole night was a challenge,” San Jose coach Todd McLellan said. “It wasn’t an overly pretty game to watch. They did a great job of playing a straight forward, hard-game and we tried to match it.”
Nabokov made 26 saves, then stopped attempts by Nikita Filatov, Anton Stralman and Rick Nash in the tiebreaker.
“I never have any plan because the guys are so skilled,” said Nabokov, who improved to 10-3-1. “The guys have two or three moves. I never even scout to be honest with you. I just try to play, make sure my gaps are fine.”
Joe Thornton scored and Dany Heatley added a power-play goal for San Jose. The Sharks have won eight of their last nine.
Nash had a power-play goal and Jason Chimera also scored for the Blue Jackets. Stralman added two assists in his 100th NHL game, and Steve Mason made 36 saves.
Columbus has lost six of eight since starting the season 5-1, but Hitchcock sees some positives.
“The confidence is that we can play with all the good teams,” he said, referring to his team’s recent shootout loss to Pittsburgh, overtime win at Washington and the effort against the Sharks. “Now it’s whether we can motivate ourselves every night. That’s what the good teams do.”
SABRES 3, ISLANDERS 0: Ryan Miller made 24 saves for his second shutout of the season, and Thomas Vanek had a goal and assist to propel host Buffalo.
DEVILS 3, CAPITALS 2: Niclas Bergfors scored two power-play goals 3:13 apart in the third period to break open a tie game and send host New Jersey to victory.
PANTHERS 3, HURRICANES 0: Tomas Vokoun made 31 saves for his second consecutive shutout, Steven Reinprecht opened the scoring early in the third period, and host Florida extended Carolina’s winless streak to 10 games.
FLAMES 3, STARS 2, OT: Jarome Iginla scored on a power play at 1:25 of overtime to give Calgary a comeback in Dallas.
AVALANCHE 4, COYOTES 1: Milan Hejduk had two goals and an assist, and Peter Budaj stopped 28 shots in his first start of the season to energize host Colorado.
