Eurolanche

Blue Jackets rally to beat Avs in OT

Nick Foligno scored with 28.7 seconds remaining in overtime Monday night to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a 4-3 win against the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center.

Foligno finished off a 2-on-1 rush when he firing the puck under goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere's right pad from inside the right circle as the Blue Jackets remained very much in the hunt for a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Blue Jackets, who have won four consecutive games, moved into ninth place in the Western Conference with five games to play. The Blue Jackets and eighth-place Detroit have 47 points each, but the Red Wings have one game in hand.

Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky stopped Gabriel Landeskog on a shorthanded breakaway 50 seconds into the overtime. Avalanche defenseman Shane O'Brien was serving an elbowing penalty that started with 57.3 seconds left in regulation.

RJ Umberger scored with 1:27 remaining in the third period to tie the game for the Blue Jackets, 35 seconds after Stefan Elliott's power-play goal put the Avalanche ahead 3-2.

Umberger maneuvered around Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie while skating into the Colorado end and slipped the puck beneath Giguere's pads.

Elliott scored from the high slot with a screen shot past Bobrovsky with 2:02 to play with Nikita Nikitin in the penalty box for high-sticking Jamie McGinn.

Cody McLeod matched his career high by scoring a pair of goals. The second one tied the game 2-2 at 5:21 of the third period. Barrie took a shot from the right corner and McLeod tipped it in while jousting for position with Nikita Nikitin.

The Blue Jackets had gone ahead 2-1 at 2:32 on a goal by Blake Comeau, his first in four games since his April 3 acquisition from Calgary. Comeau was in the slot when he converted Derek MacKenzie's pass from behind the net while being checked by Avalanche defenseman Jan Hejda.

The Avalanche took a 1-0 lead at 10:57 of the second period on a goal by McLeod, but the Blue Jackets pulled even 1:38 later on a goal by Mark Letestu.

McLeod, a fourth liner for most of his NHL career, has been playing on a line with Landeskog and Ryan O'Reilly as a reward for his hard work and willingness to drive to the net. He scored on a rebound, banging the puck under Bobrovsky's glove after Landeskog took a shot in the slot.

Letestu answered at 12:35 off a pass from Vinny Prospal. The play started when Prospal attempted to shoot the puck around the boards, but it hit referee Tim Peel and slid a couple of feet. Prospal regained possession and passed through the goalmouth to Letestu at the base of the right circle for a shot that beat Giguere to the near post.

The Blue Jackets kept the score tied by killing off a double minor to Marian Gaborik while holding the Avalanche to three shots. Gaborik was penalized for clipping Matt Hunwick in the face.

The Avalanche began the night in a 1-for-20 slump on power plays in a seven-game stretch.

-- by Rick Sadowski for Nhl.com --