Player of the night: Artemi Panarin, Columbus Blue Jackets
With five minutes to play on Monday night the Columbus Blue Jackets found themselves facing a 2-0 deficit in Toronto and seemed to be on their way to a tough loss.
Then, out of nowhere, the floodgates opened, they received a pair of quick goals from Jordan Schroeder and Pierre-Luc Dubois to send the game to overtime.
It was in overtime that the Blue Jackets got a goal from Artemi Panarin to complete the comeback and win their second game in a row (by a 3-2 margin) and third in the past four.
It was a big night for Panarin as he finished the game with five shots on goal, a 54 percent Corsi mark, and the overtime winner. The goal is Panarin’s 11th of the season and extends his team lead in scoring. He has been absolutely sensational for the Blue Jackets this season been exactly the sort of game-changing forward they needed.
His goal-scoring is not quite at the same level that it was during his first two seasons in Chicago, but the shot volume and possession numbers are there. Those two factors, combined with the sharp drop in shooting percentage, would seem to indicate he could be due for a big second half goal-wise if a few more bounces go his way.
Player Of The Night, Part Two: Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets
Jones was a workhorse for the Blue Jackets on Monday and he deserves some attention as well. He played a team high 27 minutes (three more minutes than any other skater on the team), attempted nine shots, recorded two assists (including one on the game-winning goal in overtime) and finished as a plus-one. With him and Zach Werenski on the blue line the Blue Jackets’ defense has an outstanding duo that is going to lead that defense for the next eight-to-10 years.
Highlight Of The Night
The overtime winner, of course, as Panarin and Werenski complete the Blue Jackets’ comeback.
Highlight Of The Night, Part Two
Whether he intended to do this, or if it was just a good bounce to get the puck back so quickly, Mitch Marner used the skate of a Blue Jackets player to pass the puck to himself and it looked pretty cool.
.@Marner93 using an opponent's skate for a self pass - intentional or not - looked pretty good. pic.twitter.com/uj0TU5gW2l
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) January 9, 2018
Factoid Of The Night
James van Riemsdyk scored his 18th goal of the season in the losing effort. He remains on pace to to set a new career high in goals. His previous career high was 30 during the 2013-14 season. His current pace has him on track to score 34 this season.
Scores
Columbus Blue Jackets 3, Toronto Maple Leafs 2
Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.