Johnny Gaudreau paces Columbus Blue Jackets with five points

It wasn’t pretty or technically sound, but the Blue Jackets’ 6-5 overtime win Tuesday night was exciting. 

It was also fun to watch a game with 11 total goals be decided at 4:17 of 3-on-3 OT on Johnny Gaudreau’s second goal and fifth point against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center 

“I’m just trying to help this team win as much as we can,” Gaudreau said. “Obviously, we’re in a tough spot this year, but we’re going to come together and have as much fun as we can in the next (two) weeks we’re on the road trip.”

Gaudreau scored the winner with just under 43 seconds left in OT, zipping a wrist shot over sprawled Sharks goalie Kaapo Kahkonen and past rookie William Eklund’s attempted block. It went into the net just six seconds after Kahkonen made a desperation save on Laine’s shot off a 2-on-0 rush with Gaudreau. 

The Blue Jackets (21-38-7) are last in the NHL’s overall standings with 49 points, but pulled within two points of the Sharks (51 points) in two fewer games played. That isn’t good news for those hoping Columbus gains the league’s best odds to win the league’s draft lottery for the right to select “generational talent” Connor Bedard, but the Jackets don’t care. 

“We talked about it,” Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner said during a postgame TV interview. “We got off on the right foot out here and we’ve had a couple days out here already to just be with each other. It’s a good win to build on as we go through the rest of the trip.”

Jenner also scored two goals, his 21 and 22, and passed Laine for the team lead. Laine (two assists) and defenseman Gavin Bayreuther (two assists) finished with two points each, while rookie forwards Kent Johnson and Liam Foudy scored goals for the Blue Jackets, who overcame a tough night in net for rookie goalie Daniil Tarasov (42 saves). 

Logan Couture, Alexander Barabanov, Eklund, Kevin Labanc and Nikolai Knyzhav scored for the Sharks (19-36-13), who overcame deficits of 4-1, 4-2 and 5-3 to push the game to overtime. Labanc and Knyzhov scored almost six minutes apart in the third to knot it 5-5 at the end of regulation. 

Couture had three points on a goal and two assists to lead the Sharks. Barabanov (one goal, one assists), Tomas Hertl (two assists) and Derrick Pouliot contributed two points each.

The game was tied 1-1 after the first, but the Blue Jackets scored three in the second to take a 4-1 lead. Eklund’s first career NHL goal cut it to 4-2 and Couture’s goal with 0.7 seconds left in the second pulled San Jose within a 4-3 starting the third. 

Foudy’s fourth goal of the season, scored 2:20 into the third, pushed the Blue Jackets’ lead to 5-3 and paved the way for the goals by Labanc and Knyzhov to senf the game to overtime.  

“Right at the end of the second, we lost ourselves a bit, but we put in a lot of good minutes,” Jenner said. “When you get those two-goal leads, you want to get the next one and kind of bury it. They fought back. So, I like the way we responded. We had a couple chances late (in the third) and we got it, finally, in overtime.”