*Photo from TSN*
Chalk this one up in the comeback column. Boone Jenner scored, Kent Johnson won it, and the Columbus Blue Jackets rallied to defeat the Edmonton Oilers with a 3-2 overtime victory on Wednesday night in Edmonton.
Trailing 2-1, the Blue Jackets were able to tie the game in the 3rd period and win it in overtime for their second win in 3 games. There were no multi point scorers for the Blue Jackets, with 7 different skaters collecting a point as the Blue Jackets have 5 points in 3 games.
Columbus head coach Brad Larsen said that "I thought in the third, we had some good shifts and Marchenko does a heck of a job pulling it from below the goal line and getting to the other side of the net and jamming away there. Then you can feel there was energy in our group. It was a good period, a solid period."
Starting the scoring for the Blue Jackets was their captain Jenner, giving them a 1-0 lead at the 12:25 mark of the first period. Derek Ryan scored for the Oilers 10:17 into the second period, tying the game 1-1 on his 7th goal of the season. Zach Hyman added a power play goal later in the period to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead.
The only goal of the 3rd period came from Marchenko, who forced overtime with his 11th goal of the season, coming unassisted at the 11:26 mark of the period. Just 2:29 into overtime, the rookie Johnson won the game, scoring his 9th goal of the season to make it a 3-2 final, with Erik Gudbranson and Johnny Gaudreau assisting.
Johnson said of scoring the winning goal that "It's one of the best feelings to get an OT winner, that was a huge win for us. These are the type of games you want to play in; they're really fun and have great energy. You have to manage the game to get the win. I think we've been pretty good in OT all year, but I think we're getting more comfortable in these tight games."
Drawing the start in net for the Blue Jackets was Joonas Korpisalo, who got the win to improve to 8-8-2 on the season. Korpisalo stopped 34 of the 36 shots he saw from the Oilers, good for a .944 save percentage.
Starting opposite Korpisalo was Edmonton's Stuart Skinner, who got hit with the loss. Skinner turned aside 24 out of the 27 shots on goal he was tested with, recording a .889 save percentage. His record drops to 13-10-3 in 28 games.
Ryan said of the loss that "It's always disappointing when you don't get two points, I think we let one slip away there. Credit to them; they played a good game and took advantage of their opportunities. There are no easy games in the NHL, every game is going to be hard. That being said, I don't think we played our best tonight, I think we maybe overcomplicated things a little bit."
Up next, the Blue Jackets travel farther west in Canada for a Friday tilt against the Vancouver Canucks, with Korpisalo projected to start. Skinner is in line to start for the Oilers as they do battle with the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.
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