The Blue Jackets and Ducks have traditionally engaged in some combative hockey games, and Sunday night’s game in Columbus took a dramatic swing late in the second period.
What started as an innocent-looking foray into the Blue Jackets’ end of the rink turned about to be a controversial sequence of events that won’t end with the final buzzer and a 4-3 Ducks’ win.
Brandon Dubinsky delivered a hard hit to Anaheim’s Saku Koivu in the high slot and play continued for a few seconds before everyone got together in a brief dust-up to side of the Columbus net; after the officiating crew convened at center ice, Dubinsky was assessed a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct – sending the Ducks to a five-minute power play.
Columbus went to the second intermission tied 2-2 but the palpabale tension in the building carried over to the third period. Anaheim capitalized on the major penalty, taking a 3-2 lead on Emerson Etem’s second goal of the season at the 1:51 mark.
All things considered, coming out of the major penalty with only one goal yielded wasn’t worst-case scenario for the Blue Jackets, who have shown plenty of resolve over this four-game home stand. True to form, Anisimov’s second goal of the game (following a shorthanded goal in the second period) tied things up 3-3 at 8:24 of the third, as he tipped in a Wisniewski point shot that found its way through traffic.
But the major breakdown came in the final minutes with the game tied 3-3, and the puck wound up on the stick of the wrong guy.
The Blue Jackets appeared to have things under control inside their own end, but a back pass intended for the Fedor Tyutin (who was waiting behind Bobrovsky’s net) took a bad bounce off the end boards and trickled into the slot. Corey Perry – who had plenty of chances in the game – used his long reach to curl around a diving Bobrovsky and lift the game-winning goal into the net with 2:25 to play.
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