Efficient power plays help end 4-game slide
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Sharks took advantage of their power plays and a Columbus scoring slump to get a needed win.
Kevin Labanc and Logan Couture each had a goal and an assist, and Martin Jones stopped 28 shots to lift San Jose to a 3-1 win over the Blue Jackets on Friday night, snapping a season-worst four-game skid.
The Sharks’ first two goals came on power plays, with Labanc getting a wide-open look at the net with a 5-on-3 advantage in the second period. Marc-Edouard Vlasic also scored for San Jose.
“The power play has been the key for us for the last 2½ months,” San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said. “The one thing we have is a lot of options there. We have a lot of guys who are comfortable on the power play, and they’re playing with a lot of confidence right now.”
Couture tallied 5:07 into the game with the Blue Jackets’ Matt Calvert in the penalty box for tripping. Couture got his 22nd goal when he snapped a shot from the high slot over the glove of Sergei Bobrovsky, who was shielded by 6-foot-5 defenseman Brent Burns.
Columbus’ Boone Jenner tied the score 4:30 into the second period with his fifth goal when he rifled a shot off the bar from the top of the left circle.
Columbus was victimized on another power play at 10:20 in the second when Labanc scored from 15 feet out while Seth Jones and Nick Foligno served penalties.
Vlasic got the insurance goal when he beat Bobrovsky with a backhand 6:51 into the final period.
Labanc said the Sharks, trying to emerge from a knot of teams behind Vegas in the Pacific Division, have to capitalize on penalties. They are fourth in the NHL on power-play percentage.
“We’ve just got to keep scoring on those opportunities,” Labanc said. “We get those 5-on-3s and 5-on-4s, and that’s what is winning us games. So we’ve just got to be consistent with that.”