ST. PAUL, Minn. — Jack Roslovic scored at the 3:07 mark of overtime to give the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night.
Justin Danforth, Kent Johnson, Boone Jenner and Adam Fantilli also scored for the Blue Jackets. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 24 shots.
After forcing a turnover on the defensive end, Roslovic received a pass from Johnny Gaudreau and entered the Minnesota zone, he then split three Minnesota defenders and whistled a wrist shot past Filip Gustavsson for his first goal of the season.
“The way we played we deserved that win. We played really well, really connected, really intense,” said Columbus coach Pascal Vincent. “No game is perfect, we’re going to make mistakes, but the mindset was perfect. I’m looking for excellence and what I mean by excellence is working hard. We did that tonight.”
Four of the last five games between the teams took extra time with the Wild previously winning twice in overtime and once in a shootout.
Dakota Mermis, Mats Zuccarello, Jonas Brodin and Marcus Johansson all scored for Minnesota. Gustavsson had a career-high 49 saves in the losing effort.
Columbus got plenty of quality scoring chances in the first 20 minutes, as well as the start of the second period. The Blue Jackets had nine of the period’s first 10 shots, and capitalized on those chances taking a 2-0 lead on goal by Danforth in the first and Johnson scoring on a wrist shot off the draw at 6:10 mark of the second.
But the Wild quickly responded with goals by Mermis and Zuccarello 54 seconds apart in the second. Zuccarello has seven points in a career-best five-game point streak to start a season.
With the game tied at 2-all entering the third period, the Wild finally took their first lead of the game on Brodin's first goal of the season, which zipped over the right shoulder of Merzlikins.
But Jenner would answer about three minutes later for Columbus, chipping the puck into the net after a flurry in front of the Wild net for his team-high fourth goal.
Minnesota thought it took a 4-3 lead on a power-play goal with 8:06 left, but Columbus successfully challenged the Wild was offside entering the zone.
Johansson tied the game at 4 with 2:59 left, about two minutes after Fantilli, the third overall pick in the 2023 Draft, scored his first career goal on the power play for a 4-3 Columbus lead.
Columbus returns home to face Anaheim on Tuesday.
Columbus 1 1 2 1 — 5
Minnesota 0 2 2 0 — 4
First Period
CBJ—Justin Danforth (3)Assists: David Jiricek (1), Mathieu Olivier (1), 8:55. Second Period
CBJ—Kent Johnson (1)Assists: Cole Sillinger (2), 6:10.
MIN—Dakota Mermis (1)Assists: Marcus Johansson (2), Joel Eriksson Ek (2), 7:21.
MIN—Mats Zuccarello (1)Assists: Ryan Hartman (1), 8:15. Third Period
MIN—Jonas Brodin (1)Assists: Joel Eriksson Ek (3), Pat Maroon (2), 4:42.
CBJ—Boone Jenner (4)Assists: Zach Werenski (2), Damon Severson (1), 7:36.
CBJ—Adam Fantilli (1) (Power Play)Assists: Ivan Provorov (4), Damon Severson (2), 14:41.
MIN—Marcus Johansson (1)Assists: Pat Maroon (3), Dakota Mermis (2), 17:01. Overtime
CBJ—Jack Roslovic (1)Assists: Johnny Gaudreau (3), 3:07.
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