Columbus Blue Jackets not Charged by Mounties after Stealing Point in Vancouver

The Columbus Blue Jackets commit highway robbery in Vancouver.

What a game for the Columbus Blue Jackets in Vancouver. Or, more appropriately, what a final four minutes.

After a sloppy and uncharacteristic first two periods from the CBJ were only trailing 2-1. They got on the board first with Seth Jones‘ 16th goal of the year early in the 1st. That number puts him second on the NHL leaderboard for defenseman goals.

But two goals in the second and two in the third gave the Vancouver Canucks a 4-1 lead with less than six minutes left in the game. Ballgame over we all thought. But the Jackets had a different plan in mind.

With less than five minutes remaining Alex Biega was called for tripping and the Columbus Blue Jackets headed to the power play for the third time in the game. With the man advantage the CBJ finally came through and scored off a Pierre-Luc Dubois goal to extend his franchise record for rookie goals. The goal was set up by a great Artemi Panarin pass, per Columbus Blue Jackets team rules for this game.

Two minutes later, with Joonas Korpisalo pulled, the Breadman made another incredible dish through a passing lane no bigger than a puck to Zach Werenski who buried it to bring the game to 4-3. With just a minute and a half left, the Jackets had life.

The Werenski goal gives him 15 on the season as he attempts to keep pace with Seth Jones. That goal stopped the fans in Vancouver from singing “Na-Na-Na-Na, Hey-Hey-Hey, Goodbye” pretty quickly.

16 seconds later the fans went from stopping their singing to pure, golden silence. Off a face-off win the Jackets drove into the zone and Cam Atkinson took another perfect feed, this one from Seth Jones, and tucked it behind Thatcher Demko for the game tying goal.

Three goals in 2:43 to cap an absurd comeback and force overtime. An appropriate coming back from the dead story for Easter weekend.

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Overtime and Game Notes

At this point, who cares what happens in overtime. The Jacket just stole a point and will collect at least five out of a possible six points on their Western Canada road trip. The Jackets gave up the game winning goal after failing to get the puck out of the zone and a weird bounce that left Alexander Edler with an open look at the net. Edler would bury the game winner beating Korpi stick side.

The overtime loss was a great result considering the Jackets were playing their third game of a tough road trip, had their backup in net, and were playing with five defenseman for most of the game. Markus Nutivaara left the game in the second period with an upper body strain.

The late goal from Cam Atkinson extended his point streak to seven straight games. In that time he has four goals and five assist. Seth Jones, with his goal and three assist, breaks the franchise record for points by a defenseman in a season. It will be a shame when Jones isn’t even in the top three for Norris voting.

Panarin had four assist in the game giving him 51 assist this year. So much for needing Patrick Kane.

The overtime loss was an absolute coup. The robbed the Canucks of a regulation win and added a point to bring their total to 94 with three games remaining. Any combination of the Jackets gaining three points or the Panthers losing three points and the CBJ will clinch back-to-back playoff appearances in franchise history.

Next up, the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.