Columbus Pulls Out a Fantastic Finish
By Dave Seaman, Columbus Wired

Ken Hitchcock called it “worst to best.” To Columbus fans, it’s called nirvana.

The Blue Jackets rallied from a two-goal deficit in the second period to defeat the Boston Bruins 5-4 in overtime in front of 17,376 at Nationwide Arena Tuesday night.

David Vyborny set up the game-tying goal with 23 seconds remaining in the third period and scored the game-winner with 1:54 remaining in overtime to lift the Jackets, who improved to 8-8-2 on home ice.

“The second period was the worst period we played all year and the third was the best,” Hitchcock proclaimed after the game. “This was the biggest game of the year in terms of learning. First, we came back and won a hockey game. Second, we played with great composure in the third period.”

The game-winner was all about effort. As Boston was making a line change, Alexander Svitov battled on the boards and got the puck to Ron Hainsey. As this was happing, Vyborny took off down the slot. Hainsey fed Vyborny, who backhanded the puck over the extended glove of Boston goaltender Tim Thomas to send the team and crowd into a frenzy.

“The job Svitov did on the boards was incredible,” Hitchcock said. “He held off two guys, protected the puck and pushed it back to Hainsey. That was the composure we talked about. He kept possession of the puck and didn’t give it up and you have a world-class player on the breakaway. You pretty much know it’s in.”

Vyborny had two goals and an assist, while Sergei Fedorov scored twice and Jason Chimera added a tally for the Jackets, who outshot the Bruins 42-26.

Patrice Bergeron led the Bruins with a goal and an assist. Brad Boyes, Wayne Primeau, and Stanislav Chistov also scored for Boston, who had won four of its last five games.

Boyes scored the first goal of the game for Boston as he tipped the puck between the legs of Jackets goaltender Fredrik Norrena. The goal came after Bergeron won the face off deep in the Jackets’ zone.

The Jackets got the goal back at 12:14 on a two-on-one break. Dan Fritsche fed Chimera in the slot, who beat Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas with a backhand shot that went top self.

Columbus took the lead a little over a minute later when Rick Nash stole the puck while Boston was on the power play and passed the puck to Fedorov, who beat Thomas.

Boston evened the game at 15:16 when Primeau beat Norrena with a wrist shot as the power play ended.

The momentum of the game shifted in the way of the Bruins in the second period. Boston outshot Columbus 14-7 and took advantage of for power plays.

“It’s hard to win on the road,” Bruins coach Dave Lewis said. “A point is a point, and right now a point is good for us.”

The Bruins regained the lead when Christov put the puck between the legs of Norrena at 7:49 off a centering pass from Brad Stuart. Boston added a goal with a two-man advantage four minutes later on a goal by Bergeron.

The Jackets stopped the Bruins momentum with a goal at 17:29 by Vyborny. The play started as a shorthanded break with Aaron Johnson making a sharp pass to Vyborny, who spinned with the puck and calmly went top shelf on Thomas.

“It was a big goal because we didn’t play well in the second period,” Vyborny said. “We showed in the third period that we could play better than we did in the second. We still believed that we were able to score, and we now have a lot more confidence.”

Afterward, Hitchcock had a stern message for his team during the second intermission –Play with composure.

“We said play with competitive composure,” he said “We didn’t talk about X’s and O’s or do this or do that. We just talked about composure.”

Columbus came out of the locker room and took Hitchcock’s message to heart. The team dominated puck possession and outshot Boston 20-4 in the period.

Before Fedorov and Vyborny’s heroics, it was Norrena’s stop of Marco Sturm with roughly five minutes remaining that set the tone for the fantastic finish.

The game-tying goal was set up when Stuart and Zdeno Chara got minor penalties 30 seconds apart, setting up a six-on-four advantage for the Jackets for the final 90 seconds of the game.

Fedorov called for the puck and Vyborny obliged by giving him a crisp pass at the left face-off circle. From his knees, Fedorov hit a one-timer off the post and into the net tying the game at four with 23 seconds remaining in regulation.

“I’m glad that (Vyborny) found me and all I had to do was put the puck on the net,” Fedorov said. “Luckily, it went in. I told Veebs that he had to put my picture in his stall and look at it before every game.”

In overtime, Columbus started with a man advantage for nearly a minute. They had a few good looks, but Thomas made some great saves. The Jackets outshot the Bruins 4-0 before the game-winner.

In the game winner, Boston was caught off guard while changing lines and Thomas found himself alone with Vyborny. “I saw a whole bunch of people over by the bench,” said Thomas. “I was like, ‘OK, protect the far side.’ I saw a couple of guys change, then the puck popped loose and I went, ‘Oh, no.’ I actually had enough time to think before the breakaway, ‘Well, I guess the shootout is starting early.’ ”

“It was a bad change,” said Boston head coach Dave Lewis. “Everybody can’t change at once, you just can’t do that. (Brad Stuart) did his job. He battled and he got the puck out, but he has to have someone back to support him. Unfortunately, everybody went to the bench.”

Both teams were one-for-six on the power play. Thomas stopped 37 shot for Boston, while Norrena had 22 saves for Columbus.

The Jackets host Detroit Thursday at 7 p.m.