Dubois’ shootout goal gives Blue Jackets victory
By his recollection, Pierre-Luc Dubois had never scored a shootout goal at any level of hockey.
Well, he can scratch “NHL” off his list now.
Dubois’ first career shootout goal came in his first attempt with the Blue Jackets and lifted Columbus to a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night.
“I don’t think I’ve scored in a shootout in my life. I’m pretty happy,” the 19-year-old rookie said after he scored the lone shootout goal in a three-round affair won by goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
“I went out there with no plans, just wanted to see what their goalie gave me.”
The win not only was Columbus’ 11th consecutive over the Flyers on home ice — Philadelphia hasn’t won at Nationwide Arena since Dec. 13, 2005 — but gave them five of six points since losing 7-2 in Boston on Monday.
The Blue Jackets now take a few days for Christmas break before their return Wednesday night in Pittsburgh in a rematch of last week’s 3-2 shootout loss to the two-time defending Cup champion Penguins.
“I’m thrilled to get five out of six and thought we could have gotten (six),” coach John Tortorella said, referring to Thursday’s loss. “When you think about some of the people who have gone out of our lineup … I’m proud of the way we played.”
Though Tortorella has vowed not to talk about his team’s power play “for the rest of the season,” it not only is showing signs of life, but also is producing.
Seth Jones got the Blue Jackets on the board with a power-play goal with 2:58 left in the first period to give Columbus a power-play goal in each of the past four games and five of the past six.
After that it was a good, old-fashioned goaltending duel between Bobrovsky and Brian Elliott.
Although Elliott made 35 saves in the first 65 minutes, he went 2 for 3 in the shootout — and that wasn’t enough to top Bobrovsky.
Columbus is 9-2 in overtime this season, and much of that success is credited to its goalie.
“I would have liked to win those a little earlier, but it is what it is,” Bobrovsky said after making 30 saves, including four in overtime and not including three in the shootout.
“I try to contribute when I can to help the team get some points.”
Down 1-0 after Jones’ goal was deflected in by Philadelphia’s Ivan Provorov, the Flyers tied things up early in the second as Provorov made up for his mistake by hammering a long shot past Bobrovsky at 3:56.
The Flyers, who had won seven of eight before losing to the Sabres on Friday, briefly took the lead with 1:39 left in the second when Taylor Leier knocked down a pass in front of Columbus defenseman David Savard.
Leier’s stick was way over his head, however, and officials quickly overturned the goal after a brief video review.
After an exciting overtime period, both goalies made big stops until Tortorella decided to go the unconventional route and bat his big rookie cleanup in the shootout lineup.
“We used the analytics,” Tortorella joked. “I asked (Dubois) if he was any good at this and he told me he was 0 for 6 where he played juniors. So, I was going with him. …
“He has accepted everything I have thrown at him and succeeded. I wanted to give him this opportunity.”