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Walz's OT goal leads Wild past Blue Jackets

Dec 30, 2006 - 8:27 AM ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- The wait was well worth it for Wes Walz and the Minnesota Wild.

Walz was credited with a controversial goal 89 seconds into overtime, giving the Wild a 4-3 triumph over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

After Brian Rolston scored his second tally of night 7 1/2 minutes into the third period to forge a 3-3 tie, the contest went to overtime, where a lengthy delay wound up resulting in just the third win in nine games for Minnesota.

With goaltender Ty Conklin out of the play, Wild defenseman Martin Skoula threw the puck into the crease from the left corner. In mid-air thanks to a shove from Jason Chimera, Walz had the puck hit him as he landed inside the net.

"I saw the puck coming. I knew it was going to hit my body," Walz said. "I knew I wasn't going to be able to do much with it. I was going to try to stop it and then knock it in with my stick, but I got hammered from behind."

"I didn't see the puck at all, where it was or what happened to it," Chimera said. "Walz flopped in the net and I couldn't really see where it was. ... In overtime, anything can happen. We had the game and we just blew it."

The goal originally was waved off, but a long review allowed the video officials to overturn the decision, giving Walz his fifth goal of the season.

"We had a penalty on the play," referee Tom Kowal said. "Whistle blows because we lost sight of the puck. We wave it off, we have no goal on the ice. The play is under review, shows the puck going in Walz's equipment, and Walz is completely in the net. It's a goal."

"Everybody knew the puck was in the net, but it was just for them to see it," Minnesota defenseman Kurtis Foster said. "When it took that long, I thought they must just be trying to see the puck. I went right to the ref and said, 'You better look at it, it went in the net.'"

Foster collected a career-high three assists and Pierre-Marc Bouchard set up a pair of goals for Minnesota, which went 3-for-11 on the power play and improved to 15-3-1 at home.

"We moved the puck around and got good shots on net," Foster said. "The power play was definitely the difference."

"After the first period, we had one or two power plays, they had nine," Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said. "That was the difference in the game. ... You can't take all those penalties and expect to win the game."

Chimera scored a goal and rookie Joakim Lindstrom netted his first career tally for the Blue Jackets, who have dropped two straight.

After Chimera gave Columbus a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal in the first period, Rick Nash stole the puck from defenseman Brent Burns behind the net and passed in front to Lindstrom, who buried a shot at 2:56 of the second for a two-goal bulge.

But Rolston beat Conklin with a slap shot from above the slot during a man advantage just under two minutes later and Pavol Demitra scored on a tip-in on a 5-on-3 power play at 8:01 to knot the contest at 2-2.

Alexander Svitov put the Blue Jackets back in front with 52 seconds left in the session before Rolston fired a one-timer from the top of the right faceoff circle during another power play past Conklin at 7:25 of the third to again tie the game.

"We can't seem to win one in regulation, but we've had enough in overtime to last a while," said Rolston, whose team leads the league with 12 wins after regulation. "The power play was good for us tonight. That was the difference in the game."

Manny Fernandez, who finished with 26 saves, made his biggest with 7:37 to go in the third period, denying Nash's backhander during a breakaway with his right pad.

"This is what we needed," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said of the save. "He made two great saves that should have been goals. That keeps us in the game and gives us a chance to win."

"(Fernandez is) competitive," Walz added. "There is a lot of pressure on goaltenders in our league. Most players don't know what goalies go through every day mentally. Manny won that game for us in the third period."