It was a night the late period “Blues” were reversed.
The Columbus Blue Jackets know full well they’ve let some victories slip away early in the first quarter of the season. But on Wednesday night the late period magic found the Blue Jackets in a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.
After blowing third period leads to Anaheim and to Dallas on Sunday, the Jackets were on the other side of the coin as right wing David Vyborny scored with 47 seconds left to play.
“It was our turn to win one of those close ones,” said Blue Jackets coach Dave King. “I think the guys were tired hearing about the losses in the paper and on TV. The guys should relish these moments because the close games are great games to play in.”
The Blue Jackets had given up a combined 13 early or late goals in their last 10 periods. Wednesday night looked like another ‘here we go again’ scenario as Blues center Pavol Demitra scored 16 seconds into the game. The Blue Jackets would then relax and let the NHL’s second-ranked power play go to work. They got goals from Grant Marshall and Mike Sillinger to make it 2-1 midway through the third period.
Blues defenseman Al Macinnis, who arguably has the fastest shot in the league, ripped home the tying goal with just under seven minutes to go.
Normally this would’ve been when the Jackets started to melt, but great forechecking in the final minutes forced a turnover and left wing Ray Whitney delivered a blind pass to Vyborny, who fired falling forward and caught goaltender Tom Barrasso off guard.
“It’s a great two points for us because it’s a division game, and to get four points from them (Blues) early in the season makes so much of a difference from the first two years,” Vyborny said.
The win snapped a four-game winless skid and puts the Blue Jackets at 8-7-2-2, which to date is their best record this late in the season.
Columbus will hit the road for nine of its next 13 games, where it has only one of its eight wins away from Nationwide. Back-to-back games with the Buffalo Sabres and the Ottawa Senators are the first test, starting tonight.
“Our schedule will balance off now,” King said. “It was good to get wins at home, but we have a tough road trip ahead with two really tough teams, Buffalo and Ottawa. Buffalo is struggling right now but are dangerous, and Ottawa is a really good team.”
The Sabres (3-11-3-1) are reeling after their 3-2 loss to the Blue Jackets on Nov. 3. They have endured a franchise-long winless streak of 12 games, with losses in 9. The club has also called up a goaltender who gave Columbus all kinds of problems – while in college. Ryan Miller, the former Michigan State star and Hobey Baker winner, was called up and made his first start in a loss to the Devils on Tuesday night.
Ottawa (8-6-2-0) isn’t off to the fastest start, but the Senators are unbeaten in their last four games and are coming off a trip to the Eastern Conference semi-finals last year.
“I feel like I keep saying this every weekend, but it’s another big set of games, and they’re on the road,” said Jackets goaltender Marc Denis. “Buffalo is hungry for a win, and Ottawa was one of the top teams in the NHL last year so it won’t be easy.”
