Game Recap: Wild 4, Blue Jackets 3

COLUMBUS -- Marc-Andre Fleury tied Patrick Roy for the second-most wins in NHL history, making 25 saves in a 4-3 overtime victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Saturday.

Fleury and Roy have 551 wins each. Martin Brodeur is first with 691.

Fleury made a full-extension glove save at the right post on Yegor Chinakhov’s one-timer from the right face-off circle at 2:51 of overtime. Marco Rossi then scored at 3:04 for Minnesota (17-17-4), which ended a four-game losing streak. He won it with a one-timer in the right circle off a feed from Matt Boldy.

“You know what? I was just happy to win tonight,” Fleury said. “It hasn’t been working out. We’ve been missing a few guys. We obviously need points in the standings.

“Obviously, catching Patrick is an honor, a guy I looked up to growing up. In the moment, I was happy to get the win here for the boys.”

Marcus Johansson tied it 3-3 for the Wild at 18:28 of the third period with a backhand through the pads of Daniil Tarasov. 

The goal came 12 seconds after Fleury, who was headed to the bench for an extra attacker, scrambled back toward his open net and dove, forcing Justin Danforth to shoot left of the goal on the rush. 

Johansson wanted to talk about Fleury’s overtime heroics and not his tying goal.

“That save he made at the end there, it’s fun to watch,” Johansson said. “Good way for him to tie second place. I’m happy for him. Proud of him, couldn’t happen to a better guy.”

Boldy scored two power-play goals and had an assist, and Brock Faber had an NHL career-high three assists for the Wild. 

Cole Sillinger had put the Blue Jackets ahead 3-2 at 14:15 of the third on the power play with his third goal of the game, tipping a shot by Adam Boqvist. 

“Obviously the focus is to win hockey games and unfortunately, that didn't happen tonight,” Sillinger said. “I thought it was a good hockey game, back and forth. There's a lot of special teams on both sides. A lot of good looks, high energy. … It [stinks that] we couldn’t close it off there.”

Boqvist had two assists in his return after missing 13 games with a shoulder strain, and Tarasov made 33 saves for the Blue Jackets (13-19-9).

Sillinger gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 8:09 of the first period off a backdoor pass to the crease by Jake Bean. 

Boldy tied it 1-1 at 14:48, five seconds into the man-advantage. Joel Eriksson Ek won a face-off to Faber, who passed across to Boldy for a one-timer from above the right circle. 

Sillinger put the Blue Jackets back in front 2-1 at 17 seconds of the second period after Kirill Marchenko stole the puck from Jake Middleton and fed Sillinger with a behind-the-back pass.
 
Boldy tied it 2-2 at 10:15 with a backhand in the crease. 

“It's been like this all season,” Boqvist said. “When we have a lead, you’ve just got to be able to close that down. I think we're going to be a good hockey team.”

After Danforth poked the puck from Fleury behind the net at 6:31 of the third, Adam Fantilli had an open net, but Rossi was in the crease to block his shot and prevent the Blue Jackets from going up 3-2.

Of rookies Faber and Rossi, Wild coach John Hynes said, “It’s nice to see two young guys like that come in and be real impact players and make the difference in the game.”

NOTES: Fleury is 551-323-91 with two ties in 1,003 games (975 starts) for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Vegas Golden Knights, Chicago Blackhawks and Wild. … Minnesota scored three tying goals in the same game for the second time this season, doing it in a 7-4 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Oct. 24. … Mats Zuccarello got an assist on Boldy’s second goal in his return from being out nine games with an upper-body injury. He has 16 points (three goals, 13 assists) in his past 16 games. … Faber had his fourth multipoint game of the season. … Twelve of Boldy’s 13 goals this season have come in the past 19 games. … Sillinger’s other NHL hat trick was March 13, 2022, against the Vegas Golden Knights. The 20-year-old is the first Blue Jackets player under the age of 21 to have multiple three-goal games.