Columbus Blue Jackets Win Ugly in OT against the Jets

It wasn’t the prettiest performance but the Columbus Blue Jackets came away with two points at home.

In an 82 game season you’re going to have to win ugly sometimes. I feel like I’m going to have to type that more times this year though after watching the Columbus Blue Jackets through ten games.

The Jackets came out victorious after a great performance in overtime by Josh Anderson that culminated in the game winning goal. The win capped a four game home stand with back-to-back wins for the CBJ.

The Jets opened the scoring in the first with almost an exact replica of Matt Calvert‘s goal on Wednesday. A puck tricked by Sergei Bobrovsky on a shot that ended up sitting right behind the Jackets goalie with no one knowing where it exactly was. The Jets Brandon Tanev rushed in and put the puck in the net as it sat right behind Bob. The goal came just five minutes into the contest.

From there on out it was the Bob show. The Jackets played well in front of the netminder but Bob stepped up and made some big saves.

The Jackets also stepped up their game on the penalty kill. The Jackets stopped the Jets from scoring on the man advantage in all six of their opportunities. The Jackets are killing penalties at an 88% rate. Thats good for fifth in the NHL.

That good defensive play bought the Jackets time and opportunities to produce an ugly goal. It finally came halfway through the 3rd period when Cam Atkinson scored his fourth of the year on a weak backhanded attempt.

The goal would be all the Columbus Blue Jackets needed to force overtime.

Wild OT Winner

3-3 overtime lived up to its billing. Crazy saves, offensive opportunities and a dramatic finish. It’s a lot better of course when the good guys win.

The overtime was flowing back and forth until the Jets had their chance to finish it off. Blake Wheeler snuck behind the Jackets defense and had a 1-1 opportunity to end the game. Bobrovsky was not going to let the game end there. He made an amazing glove save that would give the Jackets one more chance to win.

And one more chance is all they needed. Josh Anderson, Brandon Dubinsky, and Ryan Murray took the puck into the zone and created a plethora of scoring opportunities. Following multiple shots and intense action in front of the net, Jets goaltender Steve Mason ended up loosing his stick.

Josh Anderson collected the puck after a fantastic timely check by Dubi that left the puck available in the corner. Anderson corralled the puck, skated behind the net out to the top of the left circle and took a shot on net. He buried it for the game winner.

The overtime winner was Anderson’s second goal in as many games and allowed the Jackets to escape the game with two points.

Next: CBJ Center Problems Cured with Shipachyov

The Columbus Blue Jackets will look to ride this big win into St. Louis tomorrow night when they take on the Central division leading Blues.