SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The San Jose Sharks had to deal with a pair of unexpected delays Thursday night in their game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
They responded from both just fine.
Tomas Hertl scored twice, including an empty-netter with 0.8 seconds left, and David Schlemko had two assists as the Sharks earned a 3-1 win over the Blue Jackets for their third straight win on home ice to start the season.
The Sharks first two goals came from their second power play unit, as Joonas Donskoi scored with 7:01 to go in the first period and Hertl scored with 7:55 to go in the third.
Sharks goalie Martin Jones stopped the first 23 shots he faced before Scott Hartnell scored with 2:50 to go in the game to cut the Sharks lead to one. Jones finished with 24 saves as he improved his record this year to 4-3.
The Sharks thought they had a two-goal lead earlier in the third after Brenden Dillon's shot from inside the blue line got through traffic and past Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
But after a coach's challenge from Columbus's John Tortorella, and a roughly five-minute delay, it was ruled that earlier in the sequence, Chris Tierney was offside before Patrick Marleau carried the puck across the blue line.
Play was also halted with 2:42 left in the second period as the lights that illuminate the ice surface inexplicably went out, leaving other house lights to keep the arena from going totally dark. A statement from the Sharks said "all other electrical systems and facility lighting operated normally" as arena staff is investigated the issue.
Officials decided, under rule 77.3, to proceed directly to the second intermission. After the intermission, the last 2:42 of the second period was completed before the teams switched sides and the third period began.
At the resumption of play, the two teams setting up for a faceoff inside the Blue Jackets' blue line, just as they did before the power outage.
On the opening goal, David Schlemko saved a clearing attempt by Dalton Prout at the Columbus blue line, then found Donskoi with a diagonal pass at the faceoff dot to the left of Bobrovsky. Donskoi's wrist shot squeezed under Bobrovsky's glove and above his led pad for his first goal as the Sharks scored on the power play for second straight game.
It was Schlemko's first point as a Shark, as the Sharks have a handful of players looking to make more regular appearances on the scoresheet.
Joel Ward came into the game with one point, a goal against Columbus on Oct. 15. Mikkel Boedker's only point also came in that game, as he scored a few minutes before Ward.
In all, 12 of the Sharks' 16 goals before Thursday came from five players _ Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns with three each, and Marleau, Logan Couture and Hertl with two goals each.
Ward had a glorious chance to give the Sharks two-goal lead as he went in on a breakaway after receiving a long pass from Justin Braun. Ward's wrist shot from in close, though, went off Bobrovsky's left pad.
The Sharks killed penalties to Paul Martin, Hertl and Melker Karlsson in the first three periods, and are 12-for-12 over the last three games.
The Sharks put 38 shots on goal when they faced the Blue Jackets on Oct. 15 and squeaked out a 3-2 win. In the following three games, Bobrovsky, has stopped 91 of 96 shots to help allow Columbus to earn five of a possible six points.
The Sharks haven't had much luck beating the Blue Jackets at SAP Center, losing three of their last four games prior to Thursday.
"They play hard," Pavelski said Thursday morning. "At the start of the season, they weren't off to a good start, but they found a way to win a few games here lately. You know you're going to get an honest game from them."
