Blue Jackets did almost everything right, but came up just short in San Jose

The Blue Jackets passed the test last night, dominating play for much of the game against the San Jose Sharks. But, even though they did almost everything right, they came up just short; losing 2-1 in overtime.

It's an unfortunate result for a Jackets team that really was buzzing last night. They peppered Sharks goaltender Vitek Vanecek with 50 shots on goal, including many high danger chances; but they were stymied time and time again. In fact, this one turned into a low scoring affair.

The Sharks broke a scoreless tie with just over a minute remaining in the second period. Just after their power-play expired, 2023 fourth overall pick Will Smith (taken just one slot after Adam Fantilli) froze Elvis Merzlikins and the Blue Jackets skaters by looking off a shot; then finding a seam to feed Jack Thompson for his first career NHL goal.

Jackets battled back and got a point...

Still, the Blue Jackets persisted. They dominated play in the third period, out-shooting the Sharks 18-7 in the process. Kirill Marchenko was able to find the equalizer on a nifty stick-handling play, scoring off of a Damon Severson rebound:

Marchenko remains red hot. This was his 5th goal (second on the team) and 13th point (most on the team) in just the 12th game of the season. He's shown real chemistry with Sean Monahan so far, and the two have given the Blue Jackets consistency on both sides of the puck. Their line with Yegor Chinakhov was responsible for 11 shots on goal. They deserved better.

It just wasn't meant to be, on this night. The Jackets were able to get the game to overtime, but the Sharks got the last laugh with our old friend Alex Wennberg stickhandling through traffic and beating a sliding Merzlikins far side, high glove.

Jackets passed the test, in spite of the loss...

We talked yesterday about this game being a different kind of test for the Blue Jackets, and in my opinion, they passed with flying colors. They didn't play down to the Sharks at all. In fact, to the contrary, they controlled the pace throughout this game, but ran into a hot goaltender. That happens sometimes, and there isn't much you can do about it.

Nine times out of ten, you skate away with a 4-1 win or better in a game like this. As it goes, Vitek Vanecek did the thing he's done better against Columbus than any other opponent: he shut the door. The loss spoils an outstanding performance by Elvis Merzlikins, who was pretty darn good in his own right. Oh well. All the Blue Jackets can do is regroup and prepare for the next one: Saturday night in LA, against the Kings.