Breathe in, breathe out.
The Columbus Blue Jackets, at their best, can play with the best of the best, and they proved that tonight in a wild 4-3 overtime victory over the Nashville Predators.
From start to finish, both teams had plenty of chances, but thanks to some stellar goaltending on both ends (and some posts), the game was pretty low-scoring early on.
Boone Jenner broke the 0-0 tie at 6:26 of the first period for his first goal since Dec. 4 and seventh of the season. No goals were recorded from that point until early in the third period, in fact.
Nick Bonino of the Predators capitalized on a Jackets' turnover at the 4:31 mark (immediately after a Josh Anderson penalty had ended) for his ninth of the year, knotting the game at one.
That's when stuff started to get a *little* crazy.
To break the long drought of not scoring on a power play, Artemi Panarin netted his 14th of the season. And for some insurance, Boone Jenner casually picked up his second goal of the night just eleven seconds later.
It looked like the Preds were completely deflated, but then Viktor Arvidsson Mattias Ekholm scored goals 38 seconds apart to bring the game back to a tie, which eventually sent the game to overtime.
The arena was on the verge of emotional implosion, but luckily Panarin was hauled down just over a minute into the extra period, giving the Blue Jackets a shot at a power play goal to win in overtime. And he didn't disappoint.
Panarin came through as the hero just seconds later in overtime to give the Blue Jackets the victory.
The win also bumped their Thursday night record to 12-0-0. Which, doesn't actually mean anything, but is pretty interesting.
INJURY UPDATE
No injuries to report from tonight's game for the Blue Jackets.
NEXT UP
The Blue Jackets head back on the road to Washington for a Saturday night matchup with a division rival in the Washington Capitals.
