Foligno gives Blue Jackets 5-4 win over Devils
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Nick Foligno scored the game-winning goal with 91 seconds left when Ryan Johansen's shot went in off his skate, giving the Columbus Blue Jackets a 5-4 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.
Cam Atkinson had two goals and two assists, Brandon Dubinsky had a goal and three assists and Matt Calvert also scored for the Blue Jackets, who have won their last four at home.
Damien Brunner scored twice and Travis Zajac and Michael Ryder also had goals for the Devils, who have lost four of five.
The Blue Jackets trailed 3-1 before scoring twice in 49 seconds in the second period against Martin Brodeur, who came in with a record of 7-2-2 with two shutouts, a 2.05 goals-against average and .916 save percentage against Columbus.
Calvert broke a 3-all tie when he scored on a rebound after Brodeur blocked Dubinsky's shot 18 seconds into the third period.
The Devils, who dominated long segments of the final period, pulled even with 6:01 remaining when Patrik Elias' shot went off goalie Curtis McElhinney's mask. Brunner then wheeled and slapped the puck into the net.
With 1:31 remaining, Johansen took a shot from the left dot that caught the skate of Foligno, shadowed by defenseman Anton Volchenkov, and skittered into the net.
The Blue Jackets were playing their third game without last season's Vezina Trophy-winning goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky. He strained a groin muscle in the third period of a 1-0 shutout of Tampa Bay a week ago and will be out four to five weeks. McElhinney, who has taken Bobrovsky's place as the top goalie, made 30 saves.
The 41-year-old Brodeur, one of the most decorated netminders in NHL history, tested himself against one of the youngest teams in the NHL. The Blue Jackets' average age is 26.5 years old.
Brodeur stopped 18 of 23 shots he faced.
Ahead 2-1, the Devils stretched the lead to two early in the second period.
From the left corner, Patrik Elias, who had two assists, slid a centering pass to Brunner, who chipped it in at the 1:08 mark.
It was the major free-agent signing's first goal in 18 games and his fifth of the season.
Despite a 3-1 lead with a future Hall of Famer in the opposing net, the Blue Jackets wasted little time in tying it.
Off a faceoff, Jack Johnson fired a big slap shot from the point. Atkinson got a whack at it, with the puck dribbling behind Brodeur before Dubinsky pounced on it before the goalie could recover.
Soon after that goal was announced, Dubinsky played keep-away with the puck, going twice back and forth along the back wall, before feeding Atkinson, who lifted a shot high over Brodeur's shoulder from a hard angle to tie it at the 5:08 mark.
It stayed tied at 3 heading into the wild third period.
The Blue Jackets had not allowed a goal at Nationwide Arena for 124:21 -- and had shutouts in their previous two games against Tampa Bay and Minnesota. But it took just 32 seconds for that streak to end when Zajac roared down the right wing for his sixth goal.
NOTES: New Jersey D Marek Zidlicky returned to the lineup after missing the previous game because of an upper-body injury. ... Columbus was playing its second game of a back-to-back after losing 2-1 at Pittsburgh the night before. The Devils had been off since Saturday. ... It was the second of a three-game road trip, all against Metropolitan Division opponents, for the Devils. ... Johansen extended his career-high points streak to six games (2-6-8).