Sports

Blue Jackets Beat Stars 3-2 In OT

November 2, 2016 / 5:33 AM CDT / CBS Texas

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Sergei Bobrovsky helped the Columbus Blue Jackets hang around just long enough for Sam Gagner and Seth Jones to win it.

Gagner tied it with 16 seconds left in the third period and Jones scored 46 seconds into overtime, lifting the Blue Jackets over the Dallas Stars 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Bobrovsky stopped 36 shots, and Nick Foligno also scored.

"The first period wasn't our best, and Bob really kept us in it," Gagner said. "He's been doing that a lot."

Tyler Seguin scored his team-leading fifth goal for Dallas early in the third for a 2-1 lead. Columbus pulled Bobrovsky for an extra skater on a power play in the final minute, leading to Gagner's slap shot from atop the left circle that beat goalie Antti Niemi.

Jones then won it with a wrist shot through traffic from above the circles.

Jason Spezza also scored for the Stars, and Niemi made 25 saves.

"We did a lot of good things in the first period, set the tone," Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. "We knew they'd have a little bit of push in the second, but it's a tough one to swallow because I felt that last minute we had played the type of game we're going to win most nights."

The Blue Jackets improved to 4-3-1 and swept the two-game season series with Dallas.

After a scoreless first period, Foligno got his second goal when he snapped a wrist shot from the left circle 3:50 into the second. Zach Werenski picked up his seventh point with an assist, tying him for the team lead. Brandon Saad also assisted.

The Stars tied it later in the second on Spezza's third goal, a charging shot from the top of right circle past Brobrovsky's glove hand.
Dallas went ahead 1:13 into the third when Seguin buried the puck from a sharp angle just to the left of the net.

Both goalies were solid in the first period, especially Bobrovsky, who endured Dallas' 18-shot barrage while his teammates took half that many.

The Blue Jackets couldn't muster a shot until Gagner managed one with 11:44 left in the first period, which was highlighted by a helmetless Foligno pummeling Dallas' Antoine Roussel after Roussel just missed an aggressive check on Alexander Wennberg. Both players were penalized for fighting.

The Blue Jackets just returned from a four-game trip out West, and coach John Tortorella said it can be difficult to get players energized once they're back on home ice.

"Our first period was just a bad period, but I thought as the game went on we got better," said Tortorella, who is above .500 for the first time in his tenure with the Blue Jackets. "Bob gave us a chance to get our legs underneath us. It's a step in the right direction for the team in finding a way to win a type of game like this."

NOTES: Stars D Dan Hamhuis returned to the lineup Tuesday after being a healthy scratch Saturday in a 4-0 loss against the Minnesota Wild. He replaced Patrik Nemeth. ... Blue Jackets D Ryan Murray returned to the lineup after missing the past four games because of injury. He caught an elbow to the head against the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 21. Dalton Prout was scratched to make room. ... D Scott Harrington also was a healthy scratch for the Blue Jackets. The Stars scratched D Jamie Oleksiak, LW Curtis McKenzie, as well as Nemeth. ... After a 2-1-1 West Coast swing, the Blue Jackets began a stretch of playing eight of 11 games at home.

UP NEXT
Dallas: Play St. Louis at home Thursday night.

Columbus: Host Montreal on Friday night.