San Jose Sharks’ home futility continues in loss to NHL’s last place team
SAN JOSE — Johnny Gaudreau scored his second goal of the game with 43 seconds left in overtime, giving him five points as the Columbus Blue Jackets topped the San Jose Sharks 6-5 on Tuesday night at SAP Center.
Gaudreau beat Kaapo Kahkonen after the Sharks’ goaltender stopped Patrick Laine on a 2-on-0 break.
Boone Jenner scored twice, and Liam Foudy and Kent Johnson added goals to help Columbus end a four-game losing streak.
Daniil Tarasov made 41 saves and recorded an assist for his first NHL point.
William Eklund scored his first NHL goal for the Sharks. Logan Couture, Nikolai Knyzhov, Kevin Labanc, and Alexander Barabanov also scored for San Jose, which lost its fourth in a row and seventh straight at home.
Kahkonen stopped 41 shots but lost his seventh consecutive start.
The Blue Jackets remain the NHL’s last-place team with a 21-38-7 record for 49 points. But they are now just two points behind the Sharks (19-36-13) and three back of the Chicago Blackhawks (23-38-6), which beat the NHL-leading Boston Bruins earlier Tuesday.
Barabanov opened the scoring in the first period with a power-play goal.
Gaudreau tied it later in the first, and Johnson and Jenner scored second-period goals to put Columbus ahead 3-1.
Eklund and Jenner traded second-period goals before Couture scored with 0.7 seconds left in the period.
Foudy scored early in the third to give the Blue Jackets a two-goal lead before Labanc and Knyzhov answered with consecutive goals to tie the game at 5.
Both teams went 1 for 3 on the power play.
NOTES: Laine had two assists to extend his point streak to six games. His four-game goal streak came to an end. … Columbus scored a power-play goal for the sixth straight game, tied for the third-longest streak in franchise history. … The Blue Jackets improved to 18-1-1 when scoring at least four goals. They are 3-37-6 when scoring three or fewer. … San Jose is an NHL-worst 6-19-9 at home.