Wennberg’s OT goal caps rally from two-goal deficit
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Blue Jackets didn’t hold a lead on Saturday night until it counted.
After his team trailed throughout most of the game, Alexander Wennberg got a piece of a puck and knocked it past Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk to lift the Blue Jackets to a 5-4 overtime win.
Wennberg’s goal came off a Artemi Panarin shot 47 seconds into overtime as the Jackets earned their third consecutive victory, two of which came in extra time. The Jackets have taken eight of the available 10 points to kick off their season.
“You just have to keep working hard, and that’s the kind of hockey we want to play,” Wennberg said. “We want to play a little better than we did, but these are two points and we’ll take it.”
The Jackets forced
overtime after scoring the final two goals of the third period, the tying one coming when Josh Anderson deflected a shot from defenseman David Savard.
“Guys did a did a good job going to the net and finding a way to put it in,” Savard said. “It’s a good sign for our team. We didn’t play our best, but we kept coming and kept trying and it finally paid off at the end.”
After Sergei Bobrovsky gave up just two goals in his first three games, the Wild put up four against him and twice took a two-goal lead — only to watch the Jackets come back time and again.
Minnesota took its initial lead with 4:10 left in the first when Eric Staal went top shelf to beat Bobrovsky. The Blue Jackets weren’t down long, however, as Zach Werenski scored his second of the season just 35 seconds later.
Down 2-1, Bobrovsky lost sight of a loose puck after a shot by Landon Ferraro that trickled between his skates and sat behind him. As the sold-out crowd roared, a host of Jackets defenders jumped to try to sweep the puck out of harm’s way, only to see Ferraro fly in and nudge the puck across the line.
The Jackets came right back, cutting their deficit to one when Savard scored just over two minutes later.
Minnesota made it a two-goal game again early in the third as Tyler Ennis got his second power-play goal 1:48 in. With Jason Zucker shielding Bobrovsky’s view, Ennis deflected a shot from Mikko Koivu that slid through the skates of both Zucker and Bobrovsky.
Not to be outdone, Cam Atkinson corralled a puck from a Jack Johnson shot that bounced off Dubnyk’s chest and popped it into the back of the net to make it 4-3.
“It’s great we found a way to come back and win, but we need to figure out the first two periods,” Atkinson said.
Minnesota had a chance to make it 5-3 midway through the third when Zucker beat Werenski to a loose puck as it bounded off the boards. He fired a shot
that bounced off the crossbar. Video review confirmed the call on the ice, which was no goal.
“We had another third
period and found a way to win,” coach John Tortorella said.