COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Claude Giroux scored in regulation and the shootout, leading the Ottawa Senators to a 3-2, come-from-behind victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
Giroux beat goalie Elvis Merzlikins with a slap shot in the third round of the shootout as Ottawa rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period to win its second straight game following a seven-game skid.
Giroux said he planned the slap shot after Merzlikins had stopped shots by Tim Stützle and Drake Batherson.
“I was on the bench. I knew if I was going to go, I was going to do that,” Giroux said.
The shot surprised Merzlikins.
“I did expect that kind of thing,” Merzlikins said. “It was hard and accurate and a good shot. I’m still thinking, what should I do?”
Giroux scored at 7:25 of the third period to cut the Senators’ deficit to a goal. Stützle tied the game at 2 with 8:03 left in regulation.
Anton Forsberg stopped 35 shots for Ottawa.
Boone Jenner scored 15 seconds into the game, and Alex Nylander added a goal in the third period for the Blue Jackets, who have lost three in a row. Merzlikins made 34 saves.
“Got to find a way to close those games out,” Jenner said. “We get a big goal there in the third and let them back into it. As of late, we’ve been good in those situations but tonight we let them back in it, and that’s what happens. They were able to squeak it out at the end.”
Jenner became the first Blue Jackets player to score 20 goals when he was set up by Johnny Gaudreau and finished from the slot.
After a scoreless second period, Nylander poked in a rebound on a power play early in third to put Columbus up 2-0.
Giroux’s tip-in made it a one-goal game again, and Stützle tied it to set up the extra time.
Johnny Gaudreau, Alexandre Texier and Kirill Marchenko couldn’t convert for Columbus in the shootout.
“I thought we started a little slow in the third period, but it seemed like halfway through we came back,” Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. “We got the first goal after we gave up the second. That gave us some life, and then we got back to our game.”
Stützle said the Senators didn’t get good looks at the net for most of the game.
“They boxed out really well,” he said. “They gave their goalie a view of almost every shot. It’s all about sticking with it. That’s what we did. We came back.”
He added: “Their goalie was great tonight. Our goalie was better.”
UP NEXT
Senators: At New York Islanders on Saturday.
Blue Jackets: Host San Jose on Saturday.
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