Zach Werenski scored 1:54 into overtime and the Columbus Blue Jackets extended their points streak to nine games with a 1-0 win over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.
Werenski picked up the puck off the right boards, circled around to the bottom of the circle and beat former teammate Sergei Bobrovski, who had made 45 saves until then.
Both teams had some good looks, especially late in the game, but both goalies were outstanding.
Elvis Merzlikins had 32 saves in picking up his fourth shutout of the season. Columbus has won eight of nine and hasn’t lost in regulation since Jan. 9, a streak of 8-0-1.
The Panthers lost for just the second time in their last nine games.
Bobrovsky is 0-2 playing in Columbus since bolting the Blue Jackets for Florida via free agency. He also lost on New Year’s Eve, with Werenski picking up a hat trick against his old teammate in a 4-1 win.
Merzlikins extended his win streak to seven games. He’s 11-2 since taking over the starting job in that Dec. 31 game after Joonas Korpisalo went down with a knee injury.
A Columbus goal by Boone Jenner 6:06 into the game was waved off after a review. Officials determined that teammate Cam Atkinson’s stick made contact with Bobrovsky’s glove and kept the goalie from making the save.
Notes: Columbus C Alexander Wennberg was placed in injured reserve with an upper-body injury suffered Sunday at Montreal. He’s expected to miss 3-4 weeks. Rookie Ryan MacInnis replaced him in the lineup. … C Aleksander Barkov, Florida’s second-leading scorer, missed his second game with a lower-body injury. … Panthers D Mark Pysyk played in his 400th NHL game.
Up next
Panthers: Host Vegas on Thursday.
Blue Jackets: Host struggling Detroit on Friday.
Lightning 4,
Golden Knights 2
TAMPA, Fla. — Steven Stamkos tipped in his 24th goal of the season in the third period and led the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves and extended his streak of consecutive games without a regulation loss to 16 games, matching the franchise record set by Nikolai Khabibulin in 2002-03.
Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli also scored, and Nikita Kucherov had two assists as Tampa Bay won its seventh consecutive home game, the second-longest active streak in the league. Alex Killorn added an empty net goal with 44.7 seconds remaining.
Paul Stastny and Willilam Carrier scored for Vegas, which lost for just the second time in regulation in six games under new head coach Peter DeBoer. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 13 saves.
Stamkos was in front of Fleury when Point wheeled around from the high slot and sent a shot on net that Stamkos deflected just inside the right post at 10:36, extending his scoring streak to seven games.
Point opened the scoring with his 19th goal of the season, scoring on a wrist shot from between the circles at 10:57 of the first period. Carrier pulled Vegas even at 15:42. He took a pass from Brayden McNabb and sent a wrist a shot past Vasilevskiy for his sixth goal of the season.
Tampa Bay regained the lead late in the period on a double deflection. Ondrej Palat’s shot first hit the blade of Anthony Cirelli’s stick and then the shaft of Johnson’s stick, finding the back of the net at 17:57.
Vegas failed to take advantage of three power-play chance in the second period as the league’s fourth ranked penalty kill unit limited the Golden Knights to one shot on goal and four total attempts during the 5:07 of total time with the man advantage.
Vegas scored a tying goal early in the third period as Stastny tipped a shot from Jonathan Marchessault and tucked it inside the left post at 3:47.
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