Wild 3 - 4 Blue Jackets
Final - 2OT
  for this game

Blue Jackets top Wild in shootout

Dec 28, 2010 - 6:45 AM Columbus, OH (Sports Network) - Kristian Huselius scored to cap a perfect shootout, and the Columbus Blue Jackets earned just their second win in eight games with a 4-3 victory over Minnesota.

Rick Nash and Kyle Wilson also tallied in the shootout, while Derick Brassard, Fedor Tyutin and Andrew Murray scored regulation goals for the Blue Jackets.

Steve Mason made 36 saves in regulation, four more in overtime and stopped one of the two shots he faced in the shootout to earn the victory.

"He really played well for us tonight," said Brassard.

Cal Clutterbuck scored the tying goal with 8:22 remaining in the third period, but the Wild lost their second straight game while finishing 0-for-7 on the power play.

Chuck Kobasew and Mikko Koivu also lit the lamp for Minnesota.

"I don't think we let up. It's hockey. They're allowed to score some goals too and I think we played a great 60-minute game and lost in a shootout," said Koivu.

Columbus took a 3-2 lead when Tyutin and Murray scored 41 seconds apart in the third period. Tyutin rifled a slap shot from above the left circle over the glove of Jose Theodore, while Murray scored on a wrap-around backhand from behind the net.

Clutterbuck tied it for Minnesota, however, when he hammered the puck in past an out-of-position Mason.

Theodore allowed three goals on 22 shots in regulation, then made one stop in overtime. He was fooled by all three Columbus skaters in the shootout -- Nash beat him stick-side with a wrister, Wilson snapped a shot over his glove and Huselius beat him through the legs.

Mason, meanwhile, stoned Koivu with his pads in the shootout after allowing a goal to the Wild captain that gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead in the final seconds of the middle period.

The Wild had a 1-0 lead after the first period on Kobasew's put back at the 2:59 mark, but Brassard evened the score with a one-timer midway through the second.

"It wasn't the prettiest of games. It had a lot of twists and turns and ups and downs, but at the end of the day we got the two points and that's what we needed," said Columbus head coach Scott Arniel.

Game Notes

Minnesota had won eight of the previous 12 meetings...The Blue Jackets did not have a power play in the game.






Related News