After suffering through a humiliating 7 - 0 drubbing at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night the Columbus Blue Jackets desperately needed a bounce-back performance the next day in Calgary. It wasn't perfect by any stretch but the Jackets managed to pull out a 2 - 1 victory in OT courtesy of Nikita Nikitin's first tally of the campaign.
Midway through the extra frame, David Savard's shot off a rebound was blocked by Mikael Backlund but the puck ended up on the stick of Nikitin who cashed into an open net.
Sergei Bobrovsky was solid, though not tested too much, stopping 23 of the 24 Calgary shots he faced. After permitting four goals on just 18 shots in Edmonton, Bobrovsky's performance Wednesday was huge. Last season's Vezina winner's numbers are off the pace he set a year ago and the Jackets need Bob to be on top of his game. Hopefully Wednesday's game will get Bob on a stretch of quality play.
The win pulled the Jackets out of last place in the Metro Division. Their 8 - 11 - 3 record is the same as the Islanders but their 7 regulation wins puts them ahead of New York in terms of tie breakers.
Columbus continues their five game road trip tonight in Vancouver. Matt Calvert, absent from the lineup since October 10th due to abdominal surgery, is set to return tonight. The Jackets can use the forechecking abilities Calvert brings to the table.
Brandon Dubinsky is also a possibility tonight. He missed the Calgary game after suffering a bruised foot in Edmonton.
The Jackets will start Bobrovsky in goal tonight and he'll be opposed by Roberto Luongo.