Dany Heatley nets a hat trick in his home debut for the San Jose Sharks

October 9, 1:27 AMBay Area Sports ExaminerRyan Leong

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San Jose Sharks right wing Dany Heatley pumps his fist after scoring in the third period against the Columbus Blue Jackets
for a hat trick in an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Dany Heatley paid dividends in his first home game with a hat trick as the San Jose Sharks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 6-3.

"He's an elite scorer,"  Sharks coach Todd McClellan said.  "And we expect him to score in those situations."

The five time All-Star had four points and Joe Thornton added four assists as the win capped off a night when the Sharks hoisted three banners for winning the Presidents’ Trophy, the top seed in the Western Conference, and the Pacific Division title. 

Albeit, none of them were for the Stanley Cup after San Jose's first round exit against Anaheim.

San Jose appeared lethargic until midway through the second period.

As the Sharks and their fans found out last year, having a great regular season means nothing.

But, that doesn't mean a team should just tank it (pun intended) either.

After two fights ensued, the Sharks appeared to have more energy and certainly more momentum resulting in four goals.

The Sharks down 1-0, tied the game when Dan Boyle skated in from the right wing and fired a wrister past Steve Mason.

San Jose scored its second goal after a dump in.  Devin Setoguchi saw Heatley and passed the puck to him in the triangle area behind the net.  Heatley skated around the net and scored on a wrap around wrister, top shelf beating Mason and giving San Jose a 2-1 lead.

But Columbus tied the game when Jason Chimera skated up the left wing, beating defenseman Dan Boyle and fired a slapshot past the glove side of Evgeni Nabokov to tie it up at 2-2.

The Sharks took back the momentum with a pair of goals in a 1:43 span late in the second period.  Heatley with his second goal when he beat Mason with a nice wrister through the five hole.

San Jose made it three unanswered goals when Devin Setoguchi was camped out in front of the net and fired the puck between the legs of Mason who was replaced by Mathieu Garon with 18:26 remaining in the third period.

And Heatley later capped off the night when he was tripped up while in possession of the puck and that resulted in a penalty shot. 

Heatley beat Garon on the glove side for his third goal which of course is a hat trick and baseball caps cascaded down from the stands onto the ice.   Moments later when play resumed, fans were chanting Da-ny...Heat-ley!

"It was nice, especially the first home game,"  Heatley said.  "What a great crowd, what great energy in there and it's a fun place to play.   My teammates and people have been telling me all month what a great rink it is to play in and they didn't disappoint tonight."

The Blue Jackets were 2-0 this season but their first loss was also a continuation of their struggles at the Shark Tank where Columbus has a career record of 1-14-2.

"I don't think it's the fans,"  Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said.  "Their team played hungry and desperate and we matched it for 35 minutes and couldn't carry it through."

And when asked about his team's fast start, Hitchcock's reply as he was walking away to catch the team bus,  "We've won but I don't think we've played that well."