Some of you may remember the Bob Newhart Show with the characters of Larry, Darryl and my other brother Darryl. The Columbus Blue Jackets took it one step further with Derick Brassard, Derek MacKenzie and Derek Dorsett who scored the final three goals to help lead Columbus to a 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena.
The Blue Jackets didn't get the start they wanted as Anton Lander scored at the 7:01 mark of the first period and then followed up by Ben Eager just 1:49 later to get the Oilers out to a 2-0 lead.
“Wasn't the start we were looking for,” Blue Jackets interim head coach Todd Richards said. “For whatever reason I think we were kind of wading into the game. We spotted them two goals and even after that I don't think that was our best hockey or what we are capable of.”
Rookie and soon to be All-Star participant, Ryan Johansen, put up a goal for the home team in the second period. Johansen was carrying the puck up the left boards until Antoine Vermette stole the puck from him entering the offensive zone. Johansen maneuvered around Vermette and headed toward the net where Vermette delivered a pass and Johansen then took care of the rest at the 2:37 mark.
In a reversal of fortune, Derick Brassard scored next with under one second left in the middle period to tie the score and got a fortuitous bounce off of Oilers defenseman Jeff Petry while on a power play to tie the game.
To that point the Blue Jackets had been successful only once on the power play in their last 26 attempts that spanned 10 games.
Again the Jackets changed stripes as the third period has been a living nightmare all season. Derek MacKenzie got the game winner after a good play by Columbus' newest member to the team Colton Gillies. The Oilers turned over the puck in the neutral zone and Gillies was Johnny on the spot to take the puck, chip it by Corey Potter at the blue line, recollect the puck and feed MacKenzie who was charging to the front of the net. The goal came 33 seconds of game clock apart from Brassard's goal.
“It was a big play,” MacKenzie said after the game. “I thought Boller (Jared Boll) and Gillies, we were working pretty hard for three periods. I talked to Boller over the last four or five games and said you know we can't get frustrated. We're doing the right things, we're just not getting breaks. I think it was the reward for the last two or three games.”
The final reward came with less than 22 second left in the game as the Jackets were on the power play but due to the situation had a strange set of players out there with the likes of Sammy Pahlsson and Derek Dorsett but it was the gritty hard working Dorsett that was able to out work and out hustle the Oilers to collect a power play empty net goal to seal the game.
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
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