Johnson scores in OT, Blue Jackets defeat Maple Leafs

TORONTO -- Kent Johnson scored 3:26 into overtime, and the Columbus Blue Jackets recovered to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5 at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

Johnson, who also had an assist, scored his second of the game when he shot over Ilya Samsonov’s glove from the right face-off circle.

“That felt really good,” Johnson said. “It’s obviously been not the most ideal start (to the season) for me and tonight felt awesome, so that was great.

“For me, I was just excited it was overtime. When you reach that, you don’t really care about the third period at that point, it’s just overtime. Just try to have fun playing it and get the job done.”

The Blue Jackets led 5-0 after the second period, but allowed five unanswered goals in the third to send the game to overtime.

Yegor Chinakhov and Justin Danforth each had a goal and an assist, and Elvis Merzlikins made 43 saves for the Blue Jackets (10-16-5), who had lost four of five (1-3-1). Merzlikins had missed the past three games with an illness.

“We played a solid, solid two periods,” Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. “Systematic, winning battles, managing the puck, that was a solid two periods and we found a way to win (in overtime), so that part was really good. That could be a good boost for us, but we will go over the reviews (of the third period) tomorrow and learn from that.”

Auston Matthews had two goals and an assist, Mitchell Marner had a goal and two assists and William Nylander had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs, who extended their point streak to eight games (5-0-3). Samsonov made 29 saves.

“It doesn’t fall for us early in that second and then the lead starts to grow and now it’s a tough game to play,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “If you’re a player, it’s a tough game to get through that, but again, I think that’s all the more reason why it’s a credit to the group to just regroup in the second intermission and go out and give it what you’ve got, and it turned out to be a fun night. We had more than enough looks, but when you gamble a little bit like we did in regulation, you risk giving up that point. Obviously Columbus deserves two points here tonight, so us losing the second point is probably an appropriate result based on the way the game went, but I loved the fight and spirit of our group.”

Nylander cut the lead to 5-1 38 seconds into the third period when he one-timed a pass from behind the net by Matthews.

Marner made it 5-2 at 3:49, driving to the net and shooting between his own legs from in front.

Jake McCabe scored his first goal of the season on the power play with a slap shot from the point to make it 5-3 at 14:21. 

Matthews made it 5-4 at 18:45, taking a pass from Nylander and beating Merzlikins from the right face-off circle. He tied it 30 seconds later, shooting high blocker side from the bottom of the right circle. Both goals were scored with Samsonov on the bench for an extra attacker.

“Nobody was sulking, nobody was down on each other,” Matthews said about the mindset heading into the third period. “It was all encouragement to just get out there and play hockey. This is our building and being embarrassed the first two periods, just go out there and put in a solid effort.”

Patrik Laine put the Blue Jackets up 1-0 at 6:19 of the first period with a one-timer from the slot after taking a pass from Johnson behind the net, who intercepted Max Domi’s pass.

“I would have to go back in my memory bank, but I would be pretty convinced that was his best game,” Vincent said of Johnson. “That goal he set up for Patty was a real good read, real good instinct.”

Johnson made it 2-0 at 11:56 when he deflected Andrew Peeke’s shot over Samsonov’s blocker.

The Blue Jackets went up 3-0 at 8:16 of the second period when Danforth banked a shot off Samsonov’s blocker from behind the net.

Chinakhov pushed it to 4-0 at 10:45, cutting around TJ Brodie on the left wing and beating Samsonov five-hole.

Johnny Gaudreau scored a power-play goal to make it 5-0 at 14:19 with a shot from the left circle.

“I mean, I don’t really have words for it I guess,” Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski said. “Confusing a little bit. Obviously, we know we’ve blown some leads in here this year... I really don’t know, I guess, how to explain it, but I don’t really want to talk about that too much. We found a way to win. We did a lot of good things tonight in the first two periods and to find a way to get two points on the road against a good hockey team, we’ll take that any day.”

NOTES: Laine left the game at 6:48 of the second period with an upper-body injury and did not return. Vincent had no update after the game. … Matthews extended his point streak to four games (seven goals, three assists); Nylander extended his to seven games (two goals, nine assists). ... Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves left the game at 9:24 of the first period with an apparent left leg injury after falling awkwardly into the boards. He did not return. Keefe said he is “going to be out for a while” and that they are still awaiting the full diagnosis.