*Photo from the Globe and Mail*
Momentum swings were the name of this game. Adam Fantilli scored, Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and two assists, and the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5 in overtime on Friday in Columbus.
The win by the Blue Jackets snapped a 3 game losing streak, with the team sitting at 12-18-7 and dead last in the Metropolitan Division. In addition to Gaudreau's 3 point game, Damon Severson chipped in two assists for a multi point game.
Toronto started the scoring in the first period, with Mitch Marner scoring his 14th goal of the season to make it 1-0. At the 11:17 mark of the first, Cole Sillinger scored his 4th goal of the season, putting Columbus on the board. Auston Matthews added his 29th goal of the season towards the end of the period to make it 2-1 Maple Leafs.
Nick Robertson scored 1:35 into the 3rd period to make the Maple Leafs lead 3-1. Brendan Gaunce scored his first goal of the Blue Jackets to make it 3-2 before William Nylander's goal made it 4-2 Toronto. Dmitri Voronkov scored for Columbus to make it 4-3 before Kent Johnson scored to tie the game 4-4. John Tavares then made it 5-4 Maple Leafs after two periods.
Columbus forced overtime in the 3rd period, with Adam Fantilli scoring the only goal of the period to make it a 5-5 game. 2:56 into overtime, Gaudreau scored his 7th goal of the season to secure the comeback win.
Blue Jackets head coach Pascal Vincent said of the win that "We got better as the game went on. I thought in the third we were playing our style and intensity we need. In the third we were a good team. I liked the way we bounced back. I keep telling them we're improving. At some point you need some results against a good team."
Elvis Merzlikins was the starter for the Blue Jackets. He stopped 12 of the 14 shots he saw from Toronto before leaving due to illness after the first period. Spencer Martin took it the rest of the way and made 16 saves on 19 shots for a .842 save percentage, improving to 3-7-1 with the win.
It was Ilya Samsonov who got the start for the Maple Leafs, taking the loss as his record dropped to 5-2-6 in 15 starts. Samsonov was only able to save 15 out of the 21 shots on goal the Blue Jackets had, giving him a paltry .714 save percentage.
Matthews said after the game that "After we scored to make it 3-1, too much coming back our way, just a little too much high-risk stuff. They’ve got some pretty good players. We’ve seen them two, three, times now the past two weeks, so we’re pretty familiar with how they play and like to transition the puck."
Both teams play the second end of respective back to back games on Saturday. Daniil Tarasov is likely to start for the Blue Jackets against the Buffalo Sabres, while Martin Jones starts for the Maple Leafs against the Carolina Hurricanes.
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