Guenther scores in OT for 2nd straight game, Utah Hockey Club tops Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS -- Dylan Guenther scored in overtime for the second straight game, giving the Utah Hockey Club a 3-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

Guenther took an outlet pass from goalie Connor Ingram for a breakaway and scored on his own rebound at 4:27.

“Once I saw [Ingram] got it, I kind of figured he was going to shoot it and I didn't even really see it,” Guenther said. “… Pretty bad first shot, to be honest. Like that didn't really have any chance of going in, but [I] got lucky that it came back to me.”

The forward’s goal with one second remaining in overtime on Tuesday lifted Utah to a 3-2 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers in his first game since missing 12 with a lower-body injury.

Guenther became the second player in NHL history to score in the final minute of overtime in consecutive games. Brent Burns did it for the Minnesota Wild on March 11 and 13, 2007.

Lawson Crouse and Olli Maatta scored, and Ingram made 20 saves for Utah (23-22-9).

“I don't think that we played our best today and we found a way to win, but when you're in those situations more often, you get more comfortable, more confident,” Guenther said. “We're going to be in a lot of those moving forward, so it's important for us to get some of those wins doing it like that.”

Justin Danforth and Ivan Provorov scored, and Elvis Merzlikins made 30 saves for the Blue Jackets (26-21-8), who have lost three straight. Zach Werenski had an assist to extend his home point streak to 20 games.

“You take as many points as you can,” Columbus defenseman Damon Severson said. “We had a .500 road trip there (2-2-0, ending Tuesday). We would love to get a little bit better than that, but a .500 road trip, we come back, you get a point. Now, if we get a win (against the New York Rangers on Saturday) going to the break (for the 4 Nations Face-Off), that's going to set us up pretty solid moving forward here.”

Danforth gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 5:51 of the first period. Maatta rimmed the puck around the boards to the right wall, where Jordan Harris got a touch on it to send it to the front of the net, and Danforth shoveled it in.

“There's no excuses for us,” Danforth said. “We pride ourselves on being a consistent team. I felt like we were there for most of the night but just not enough.”

Crouse, a healthy scratch in the previous game, tied it 1-1 at 2:06 of the second period, six seconds after a Utah power play expired. He was in the slot to one-time a pass from Josh Doan.

“I think he played hard,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said of Crouse. “He was focused. He was intense. I really liked his game.”

Maatta, who will play for Team Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 12-20, made it 2-1 at 12:33. His centering pass intended for Nick Bjugstad in front went off the stick of Werenski.

Provorov tied it 2-2 at 19:21 with a short-handed goal, scoring with a wrist shot from above the right face-off circle off a pass from Werenski. It was Provorov’s first short-handed goal in the NHL and extended his goal streak to a career-high three games.

“I saw an opportunity to jump up and just shoot the puck and it went in there,” he said.

Werenski, who will play for Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off, has 37 points (13 goals, 24 assists) during his home point streak. He is the fourth defenseman in NHL history with a streak of at least 20 games.

With the assist, Werenski set the Blue Jackets record for points in a season by a defenseman with 58 (17 goals, 41 assists). Seth Jones had 57 points (16 goals, 41 assists) in 2017-18, and Werenski tied the mark last season (11 goals, 46 assists).

NOTES: Werenski returned after missing a 3-2 loss at the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday with an upper-body injury. The defensemen with longer home point streaks than his are Bobby Orr (25 games in 1974-75 and 21 games in 1970-71), Paul Coffey (23 games in 1985-86) and Phil Housley (22 games in 1991-92). … Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson had his career-high eight-game point streak end. … Provorov joined Werenski (Dec. 21, 2019) as the second Columbus defenseman with a short-handed goal in the past 15 years. … Tourigny coached his 300th NHL game.