Johnny Gaudreau scored at 4:17 of overtime to cap a five-point night and lead the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets to a wild 6-5 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.
Gaudreau took Patrik Laine’s pass from behind the net at the bottom of the right circle and roofed a wrist shot past Kaapo Kahkonen for his second goal of the game and highlight the third five-point game of his career.
Boone Jenner scored twice and Kent Johnson and Liam Foudy also scored goals for Columbus, which snapped a four-game losing streak (0-3-1). Gavin Bayreuther and Laine each added two assists while Daniil Tarasov made 27 saves and also had an assist on Johnson’s power-play goal.
Logan Couture had a goal and two assists, Alexander Barabanov had a goal and an assist and William Eklund, Kevin Labanc and Nikolai Knyzhov also scored goals for San Jose, which lost its fourth straight (0-3-1). Tomas Hertl and Derrick Pouliot each had two assists while Kahkonen finished with 42 saves.
Barabanov gave San Jose a 1-0 lead at the 8:00 mark of the first period when he backhanded in a rebound of a Couture shot from the bottom of the right circle for his 14th goal of the season.
Gaudreau tied it five minutes later when he flipped in a rebound of a Laine shot past Kahkonen’s blocker side.
The Blue Jackets scored twice in the first 5:28 of the second period to take a 3-1 lead. Johnson got the first goal, his 14th, on a power play when he squeaked a wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle through Kahkonen’s pads. Jenner followed when he slammed home a rebound of a Gaudreau shot.
Eklund cut it to 3-2 with a backhanded rebound into an open net for his first career NHL goal. It also was San Jose’s first shot in 22:24 following Barabanov’s goal.
Jenner made it 4-2 with his second goal of the game and 22nd of the season with a spinning wrist shot from the high slot. Jenner cut it to 4-3 with a long wrist shot from the top of the left circle off the far post with 0.7 seconds left in the period.
Foudy extended the Columbus lead to two goals at the 2:20 mark of the third period, sending a wrist shot from the left circle past Kahkonen’s blocker off a Mathieu Olivier crossing pass. But the Sharks closed within 5-4 on Labanc’s first goal in 17 games at the 5:53 mark.
Knyzhov, who missed the entire 2021-22 season with a groin injury and the start of this season with a torn right Achilles, tied it midway through the period with a wrist shot from the left circle over Tarasov’s glove for his first goal since April 12, 2021. He was playing in his fifth game of the 2022-23 campaign.
–Field Level Media
