Artemi Panarin scores OT winner as Blue Jackets come back to beat Capitals

The Columbus Blue Jackets went down two goals and three forwards and left with a Game 1 victory.

Artemi Panarin scored a beautiful goal 6:02 into overtime to give the Blue Jackets a 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night in the first-round playoff series.

Panarin won it after Columbus lost Josh Anderson to a game misconduct, Alexander Wennberg with an apparent head injury and captain Nick Foligno after taking a puck to the face.

None of that seemed to faze a team accustomed to overcoming injuries and digging out of deficits.

"In the playoffs, you find a little bit of extra energy," said Blue Jackets forward Thomas Vanek, who scored from Wennberg's spot on the power play and had an assist. "That tonight was one of those games where we talked to each other, we pumped each other up, we felt good and it never felt like we were going to lose this one."

Maybe the Blue Jackets didn't, but they didn't make it easy on themselves, falling behind 2-0 on power-play goals by Evgeny Kuznetsov scored on Anderson's five-minute major penalty for boarding and injuring Washington's Michal Kempny. Not letting the game snowball out of control allowed Columbus to claw back in it with Wennberg's goal in the second and then Vanek's on the power play early in the third.

Read full article here