The Blue Jackets needed this one badly, but their habit of blowing leads late in regulation nearly bit them again.
This time, leading 3-2 with less than two minutes left Nov. 17 at Nationwide Arena, the Montreal Canadiens tied it 3-3 on a goal by defenseman Lane Hutson with his own net empty for an extra attacker, 1:19 on the clock and Blue Jackets forward Mathieu Olivier defending without a stick.
Olivier gave his stick to center Charlie Coyle, whose stick snapped, before Hutson fired a shot through traffic that slid under Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves. It forced overtime for the Blue Jackets in a second straight game after losing to the New York Rangers by shootout on Nov. 15 in Columbus.
Also for the second straight game, the Blue Jackets didn’t get a single shot in OT. They were outshot 6-0 by the Canadiens before getting it to a shootout decided by Kirill Marchenko’s goal and Greaves’ save against Ivan Demidov in the third round.
Knowing a postgame flight to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada awaited for a challenging back-to-back finale Nov. 18 against the Winnipeg Jets, the Jackets couldn’t afford to leave Columbus without two points. They made it harder than it needed to be by backpedaling in the third and OT but got the job done in front of 14,811 at Nationwide Arena.
Zach Werenski, Adam Fantilli and Dmitri Voronkov scored goals for the Blue Jackets in the first two periods to build a 3-1 lead starting the third, but former Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson and Hutson scored tied it with goal to force OT.
Greaves, starting his fifth straight game, and made 29 saves for his third win in that stretch (3-0-2). Former Ohio State goalie Jakub Dobes made 20 saves in his first game against the Blue Jackets. Now, it’s off to Winnipeg for the Jackets, who are expected to start Elvis Merzlikins in a tough turnaround.Â
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.socialÂ