The Columbus Blue Jackets pulled off a thrilling 2-1 overtime win Sunday over the Anaheim Ducks at Nationwide Arena, a victory that carried two points which vaulted the Blue Jackets into sole possession of eighth place in the Western Conference standings with 12 games to play. Yes, you read that correctly: thanks to a 10-2-4 record in the month of March, the Blue Jackets have placed themselves in the postseason conversation – and they’re not prepared to stop their ascent.
On this night, the home team came out with some jump in the first period and shook off the rush following a four-game, seven-day road trip that started in Nashville and ended with a win in Calgary on Friday night. The old hockey adage is that the first game back home after a long trip is difficult to play – and until the third period, the Blue Jackets did well to dispel the notion.
Derick Brassard opened the scoring at 9:34 of the second period when line mate Mark Letestu (we’ll talk about him very shortly) fired the puck off the end boards, and Brassard was camped at the side of the net to chop it past Jonas Hiller. Through 40 minutes of play, the Jackets led 13-12 in shots but the Ducks put their work boots on in the third period.
Anaheim out-shot Columbus 17-1 in the third period and got the tying goal from Emerson Etem at 5:55 of the third period, capitalizing on a defensive-zone turnover by the Blue Jackets. It was nervy at times, but the Jackets held on down the stretch and forced overtime – where they have become quite comfortable lately – and got another magical finish courtesy of their go-to guy in the clutch.
Letestu received a cross-ice pass from Nikita Nikitin with just over a minute left in sudden death, and he snapped a quick wrister that eluded Hiller and gave Columbus its 10th win of the month.
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