All three members of the San Jose Sharks'No. 1 forward line are headed to the Winter Olympics next week to play for Team Canada.

Last night against the Blue Jackets, Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley looked as if they were saving themselves for Vancouver. At least that's what Jackets defenseman Jan Hejda thought.

The Sharks' most lethal line was a nonfactor in the Jackets' 3-0 win in Nationwide Arena.

"I don't want to say something stupid, but in the second period I was thinking, 'Why are they playing like this?' " said Hejda, who will represent the Czech Republic. "They weren't as dangerous as they usually are. Maybe it's because they are going to the Olympics and didn't want to get hurt.

"This is not normal. They were different."

Jackets forward Sammy Pahlsson, perhaps wary of any Olympic smack talk, did not agree with his teammate's assessment.

"I didn't see that," said Pahlsson, a member of Team Sweden. "I think we just managed the puck real well against that line, didn't give them a lot of space when they had the puck, and (goaltender Steve Mason) was really good."

Entering the game, all three Sharks ranked among the NHL's top 10 in scoring. Heatley was held without a shot, and Thornton managed one. Marleau, the league's third-leading goal-scorer with 38, registered five shots, although he was taken off the top line late in the second period.

Heatley and Thornton accounted for eight points in the first meeting against the Blue Jackets this season on Oct. 8, and Heatley was plus-6 in the 6-3 win. Last night, the pair finished a combined minus-5.

The Blue Jackets' lines centered by Pahlsson and Antoine Vermette shared the responsibility of checking the Sharks' top players. Hejda and Marc Methot were the defensemen who drew the most shifts against Thornton.

Vermette, Rick Nash and Kristian Huselius forced the Sharks' top line to play defense and didn't commit turnovers that led to odd-man rushes.

"I thought we were very composed with the puck, and we didn't panic away from it," Vermette said.

Killing time

Blue Jackets penalty killers blanked the league's third-ranked power play on three chances, yielding just five shots. The unit hasn't allowed a goal in four games, going 12 for 12.

"Nothing has really changed," Pahlsson said. "It's like with a lot of things on our team, we're just playing with confidence right now."

Ice time

Interim coach Claude Noel met with several players, including Nash, to discuss their ice time. Nash played just 17 minutes, 15 seconds in his first game under Noel on Feb. 4 and 20:15 on Saturday night.

He had been averaging 20:40.

"I told him in regards to minutes, we are going to get him more minutes," Noel said. "I don't know if it will be before the (Olympic) break. He had no problem with that. He wants to win like all of us."

Nash, who played 20:21 last night, said he likes how Noel has rolled four lines in his first three games.

Slap shots

Forward Mike Blunden was sent to minor-league Syracuse after the game. The Blue Jackets have scored the first goal in five straight games. The Jackets scratched Anton Stralman (foot), Fredrik Modin (lower body) and Blunden. Noel joins Doug MacLean (Jan. 8-11, 2003) as the only Blue Jackets coaches to start 3-0.

treed@dispatch.com