*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
When you're out of the race yourselves, you can play spoiler. Kent Johnson scored the Michigan goal, Boone Jenner scored the winner, and the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the New York Islanders with a 5-4 overtime win on Friday night in Columbus.
The Blue Jackets, tied for the worst record in the NHL, have now won two straight games, and took away a point from an Islanders squad that needs all the points they can get in a tight playoff race. Jenner and Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and an assist to go with two assists from Jack Roslovic.
Columbus head coach Brad Larsen said of the win that "The Islanders are in a dogfight for points and the importance of this game for them, it forces you to get engaged. You can’t dip your toe in. I thought we had a real good start to this game. I really loved how we started. Even though we came out down, there were some real good things in that period."
Zach Parise scored the only goal of the first period to make it 1-0 Islanders. Gaudreau scored a power play goal 4:58 into the second period to get Columbus on the board and tie it 1-1. Brock Nelson then gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead before Liam Foudy tied it right back up. Johnson then scored the Michigan goal to make it 3-2 Blue Jackets before Eric Robinson added to the Blue Jackets lead.
Early in the 3rd period, Kyle Palmieri scored for the Islanders, cutting the deficit to 4-3 on his 13th goal of the season. Nelson then scored a power play goal to tie the score at 4-4, forcing overtime. Just 40 seconds into the extra period, Jenner found the back of the net for the Blue Jackets, giving them a 5-4 win.
Larsen said of Johnson's highlight reel Michigan goal that "He is so creative, and it's the right call there. He's tried to before in games and been close. It's not to be showy. If he tries to wrap it around on his backhand, Sorokin is there and he bumps it out. The fact that he can do that full speed, it's an incredible goal. It really was. It's an amazing goal."
Getting the start for the Blue Jackets was Michael Hutchinson, who got his first win since April of 2021. Hutchinson stopped 34 of the 38 shots he saw from the Islanders, good for a .895 save percentage. His record stands at 1-2-1 this season.
It was Ilya Sorokin between the pipes for the Islanders, losing in OT to drop his record to 26-19-7 in 52 starts this season. Sorokin turned aside 22 out of the 27 shots on goal Columbus had, recording a .815 save percentage.
Palmieri said of the loss that "We didn't really come ready to play. We managed to get a point out of it. I think we left one on the table there. We know the importance of every game down the stretch here. We were sloppy. We weren't moving our feet, weren't able to generate any speed coming out of our zone or through the neutral zone."
Both teams get right back in action on Saturday to wrap up back to backs. Daniil Tarasov is the projected starter for the Blue Jackets against the Montreal Canadiens, while Semyon Varlamov will start for the Islanders as they face the Buffalo Sabres.
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