SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Johnny Gaudreau scored his second goal of the game with 43 seconds left in overtime, giving him five points on the night as the Columbus Blue Jackets topped the San Jose Sharks 6-5 Tuesday.
“I felt good tonight,” Gaudreau said. “Just a fun game to be a part of.”
Gaudreau beat Kaapo Kahkonen after the Sharks’ goaltender stopped Patrick Laine on a 2-on-0 break.
“Great save by the goalie,” Gaudreau said. “Patty kind of stuck with it and found me in front. … It was nice to find the net a couple times tonight.”
Added Columbus coach Brad Larsen: “Five points, that’s a big night for anybody. You could see early that he was skating, he had his legs tonight.”
Boone Jenner scored twice, and Liam Foudy and Kent Johnson added goals to help the Blue Jackets end a four-game losing streak.
Daniil Tarasov made 27 saves and recorded an assist for his first NHL point.
William Eklund scored his first NHL goal for the Sharks. Logan Couture, Nikolai Knyzhov, Kevin Labanc and Alexander Barabanov also scored for San Jose, which lost its fourth in a row and seventh straight at home.
“It’s something all kids dream of, scoring your first goal in the NHL,” Eklund said. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this and had a lot of chances. So it was nice to finally get this one and keep on going from here.”
Kahkonen stopped 41 shots but lost his seventh consecutive start.
“You’re not going to win hockey games when you give up six goals and be that loose and give up the chances we gave up,” Sharks coach David Quinn said.
Barabanov opened the scoring in the first period with a power-play goal.
Gaudreau tied it later in the first, and Johnson and Jenner scored second-period goals to put Columbus ahead 3-1.
Eklund and Jenner traded second-period goals before Couture scored with 0.7 seconds left in the period.
Foudy scored early in the third to give the Blue Jackets a two-goal lead before Labanc and Knyzhov answered with consecutive goals to tie the game at 5.
Both teams went 1 for 3 on the power play.
NOTES: Laine had two assists to extend his point streak to six games. His four-game goal streak came to an end. … Columbus scored a power-play goal for the sixth straight game, tied for the third-longest streak in franchise history. … The Blue Jackets improved to 18-1-1 when scoring at least four goals. They are 3-37-6 when scoring three or fewer. … San Jose is an NHL-worst 6-19-9 at home.
UP NEXT
Blue Jackets: Continue a five-game road trip at Los Angeles on Thursday night.
Sharks: Host Seattle on Thursday night.
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Ben Ross, The Associated Press