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Nash leads Blue Jackets to overtime win

Oct 11, 2008 - 5:30 AM By John Tranchina PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DALLAS (Ticker) -- Captain Rick Nash scored with 21 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a season-opening 5-4 victory over the Dallas Stars on Friday.

Jason Chimera gained possession of the puck in the offensive zone and fed Nash, who beat goaltender Marty Turco with a wrist shot to improve the Blue Jackets to 3-3-2 in season openers.

"It was a good pass by Chimera," Nash said. "I got it, closed my eyes and fired away, low blocker (side).

"We lost a 4-2 lead, but we showed a lot of character to come back. We've got to be better. Being up by two that late, we've got to be sharper. But we came back and got the two points in overtime."

With Dallas trailing, 4-2, Brad Richards scored with 3:18 remaining in the third period and defenseman Trevor Daley tallied 33 seconds later to forge a tie.

"We found a way to get back in the game and get a point. We'll take the point, that's for sure," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "But in actual fact, I look at the whole scope of the game. I didn't see enough consistency in our group in how we played to feel good about the game coming out, whether we got a point or not."

Prior to that surge, Columbus erased a 2-1 deficit on third-period goals by Kristian Huselius, Andrew Murray and Derick Brassard.

"I was really impressed with the way we played in the third period," Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. "The way we played was really a good sign for us."

Jakub Voracek netted his first NHL goal with 4:07 left in the first session to give the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead.

Voracek's shot over Turco's shoulder had so much force behind it, the puck bounced right out of the net, and play continued for another 20 seconds. At the next stoppage, replays showed the puck did not hit the crossbar but actually went in, and the goal was awarded to the 19-year-old Czech.

The Stars capitalized on a flurry of penalties early in the second period to tie the game at 1-1. Captain Brenden Morrow scored the club's first goal of the season 5:21 into the session, jamming home a loose puck in front of the net during a 5-on-3 power play.

"There were a lot of momentum swings, a lot of opportunities on the power play early," Morrow said. "It took us a 5-on-3 to get one."

Making his NHL debut, James Neal gave Dallas the lead less than three minutes later, when he deflected a slick centering pass from defenseman Stephane Robidas over the pads of netminder Pascal Leclaire, who finished with 27 saves.

"It was just a great pass from Robi," the 21-year-old Neal said. "It felt great getting that first one out of the way."

Tippett praised Neal for his efforts.

"I thought he was excellent. He could have been our best player tonight," Tippett said. "I thought he was very good."

Robidas collected three assists, Mike Ribeiro added two and Turco stopped 22 shots for Dallas, which fell to 16-14-11 in season-opening games.

"We can't afford any letdown like that against any team," Robidas said. "They capitalized on the chances we gave them. We let them come back in the game, and that's not who we are, that's not the identity we want to have."