COLUMBUS, Ohio — Nikita Filatov and Antoine Vermette
scored in a shootout to lift the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 6-5 victory over
the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.
Filatov, shooting second in the
shootout, gave the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead with a backhander. Vermette also scored for Columbus in the shootout while Blake Wheeler
had the lone Boston goal.
Jakub Voracek had a goal and two
assists for the Blue Jackets. Vermette, Matthew Calvert, Kris Russell
and Derek MacKenzie also scored in regulation.
Marc Savard, Andrew Ference and Shawn
Thornton each had a goal and an assist for the Bruins. Chuck Kobasew
and Johnny Boychuk also scored for Boston, which came back from five
one-goal deficits, including two in the third, to force overtime.
Russell put Columbus up 4-3 when he
scored on slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle during a
power play at 1:41 of the third.
Boychuk took a cross-ice pass from
Savard to tie it 4-4 at 4:16, but MacKenzie regained the lead for the
Blue Jackets 52 seconds later with a rebound stuff.
Savard scored the fifth goal from the high slot on a rebound with 8:20 left.
Voracek's power-play goal from a setup by Alexandre Picard gave the Jackets a 3-2 advantage at 1:35 of the second period.
Thornton took advantage of a turnover
by putting a backhand shot over the stick of Garon into the upper right
netting with 2:53 left in the period to tie the score for the third
time.
Notes
Neither the Blue Jackets'
Steve Mason nor Tim Thomas of Boston played. They were two of the three
finalists last season for the NHL's Vezina Trophy (best goalie).
Minnesota's Niklas Backstrom was the third nominee for the award won by
Thomas. Boston's Zdeno Chara, the Norris Trophy winner as the top
defenseman, also was not in uniform. Columbus' Raffi Torres sat out
after suffering back spasms during Monday's game against Minnesota.
Teammates Rostislav Klesla, Marc Methot, Fedor Tyutin and R.J. Umberger
were out because of hip-flexor strains.