The Columbus Blue Jackets continued their four-game homestand with a Tuesday night matchup against the Anaheim Ducks. It took overtime to arrange this.
Adam Fantilli scored the game winner with 3:32 left in overtime to lift it the Blue Jackets to a 4-3 victory above the Ducks. The win ends the Blue Jackets’ five-game losing streak.
The story of this game was that the Blue Jackets found a way to win despite being unable to hold onto a lead again in the third period.
Summary of the game
After both teams got off to a somewhat slow start, the Blue Jackets were able to get on the board first. That seemed to help them find their legs.
Captain Boone Jenner found Zach Werenski and he beat goalkeeper Ville Husso. For Werenski, that was his tenth goal of the season, making it the eighth in several seasons in which he has reached double-digit goals in his career. He wasn’t done scoring in what was his 600th NHL game.
In the second the goals started to fall in bunches. In total, the teams scored four goals in a span of 1:54. Ryan Strome made it 1-1 at 3:35 p.m.
24 seconds later, Werenski added his second goal of the night and 11th of the season, choosing to shoot in a 2-on-1 rush. Jenner extended the lead to 3-1 just 19 seconds later.
The Ducks’ Mikael Granlund then needed just 1:11 to reduce the score to 3-2. After this flurry of activity the game settled down, with both teams creating chances but failing to score.
The Blue Jackets took the first four penalties of the game. They managed to kill them all. That also helped raise the bench, according to the players in the postgame. This kept the match in their favor until late in the third period.
Jackson LaCombe was below the goal line. He fired the puck off Jet Greaves’ helmet to make it 3-3 with just 3:16 left in regulation time. Overtime was required.
Fantilli noticed that Leo Carlsson had a longer shift on the ice. Instead of waiting for teammates, Fantilli took the initiative to take action. His shot beat Husso for the 4-3 win. It was a win the Blue Jackets really needed.
Both Husso and Greaves made 24 saves on the night.
The Blue Jackets return to action on Thursday when they close out their homestand against the Minnesota Wild. The Ducks fly home and then play a back-to-back Friday and Saturday, when they again host the Stars and then the Blue Jackets.
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