Blue Jackets rally for 4-3 win in SO over Isles
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ryan Johansen scored late in regulation to tie it and then added the clinching goal in the shootout Thursday night to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 4-3 victory over the New York Islanders, extending their streak to eight straight wins.
After Mark Letestu scored to lead off the shootout, Johansen slowed as he went in on goalie Jaroslav Halak and slid the puck between his leg pads. Sergei Bobrovsky, who stopped Frans Nielsen in the first round, then stopped Kyle Okposo to lock up the victory.
The Blue Jackets, out of the playoff picture, have won 11 of 12 in addition to running their road streak to a franchise-best eight in a row.
Brandon Dubinsky and Jack Johnson had goals for Columbus, with Johansen also adding an assist.
John Tavares had a goal and an assist, Eric Boulton scored for the first time in 17 months and Ryan Strome also tallied for the Islanders, who blew a two-goal lead in the third. Halak finished with 36 saves.
The Islanders stretched the lead to 3-1 just 55 seconds into the third when Tavares passed back to Travis Hamonic, who blasted a hard shot from near the blue line. Bobrovsky made the save but gave up a rebound, with Strome pouncing on it for his 17th.
The Blue Jackets cut the lead to a goal when Johnson scored on a rebound. David Savard's shot from the point got through heavy congestion and Nick Foligno and Scott Hartnell squeezed off shots before Johnson found the net at the 11:08 mark.
Johnson has goals in his last three games.
Johansen then tied it with 3:43 left in regulation. Savard's long shot was deflected at the net by Cam Atkinson, the puck trickling behind Halak. Johansen reached his stick around the goalie to tap it into the net and tie it.
Bobrovsky made three big saves in the final minute of regulation when the Islanders were on a power play after Cody Goloubef was whistled for delay of game. Halak did the same in the overtime when Johnny Boychuk went off for interference and he stopped four in-close shots.
Boulton opened the scoring -- his first point of the year and first goal since Dec. 12, 2013 -- at the 2:54 mark of the first.
His first shot off a pass from Casey Cizikas was stopped by a sprawling Bobrovsky, but the puck was still loose as the goalie sat on the ice atop it. Boulton slipped his stick in for a second whack at it and it slid into the net.
Boulton had been a healthy scratch in the last 11 games and had been injured most of the season before that.
The Blue Jackets evened it at 7:06. From the point, defenseman Dalton Prout passed just wide of the goal cage, the puck deflecting off the stick of Dubinsky for his 11th of the year.
Tavares put the Islanders back on top with a redirection at the 2:03 mark of the second for his 35th.
Boychuck's hard one-timer from the point was deflected off Tavares' low stick, ramping the puck up and past Bobrovsky for a 2-1 lead for New York.
NOTES: Columbus RW Jared Boll returned after a three-game suspension for a high hit on Anaheim's Patrick Maroon. ... Islanders' Michael Grabner missed his seventh game in a row (upper body). ... The Blue Jackets were playing their second of a three-game homestand, with the third on Saturday afternoon against Pittsburgh. ... The Islanders return home to play Buffalo on Saturday. After a road trip to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, they close the regular season at home against the Blue Jackets on April 11.