LAS VEGAS — Cam Atkinson scored two goals in 2:33 in the third period for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 4-3 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.
Atkinson tied it 3-3 at 14:48, then scored the game-winner on the power play with a wrist shot through traffic from the right face-off circle at 17:21.
“We’re a resilient group,” Atkinson said. “We’re not going to bend. We’ve been in these situations before. Good teams stick with it. They’re one of the best teams. You’ve got to feel good about this one and carry it on to the next one.”
[WATCH: All Blue Jackets vs. Golden Knights highlights]
Artemi Panarin had a goal and two assists, and Josh Anderson scored for Columbus (31-20-3), which went 3-0-0 on a three-game Western Conference road trip after losing five in a row. Sergei Bobrovsky made 20 saves.
“We talked about it before the game, that the previous two, it was a huge four points. I don’t think we played our best, but we found a way to get it done,” Atkinson said. “I think tonight, facing one of the best teams in the League, we had to bring it. I think we played one of our best games of the season.”
Video: CBJ@VGK: Atkinson pots his own rebound
Nate Schmidt, Jon Merrill and Cody Eakin scored for Vegas (31-22-4), which lost for the first time in three games and for the fifth time in its past seven. Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves.
The Golden Knights have lost three in a row at home after starting the season 16-4-3.
“You hear those fans out there, they deserve better than that,” Merrill said. “We’ve had a couple tough outings the last few in this building, and we’ve got to do a better job to get some wins in here.”
Eakin scored at 9:21 of the third to give Vegas a 3-2 lead, but after Atkinson tied it with his 30th goal, Golden Knights forward Paul Stastny was called for slashing Panarin at 17:04, and Atkinson put the Blue Jackets ahead with a goal against the fifth-ranked penalty kill in the NHL (83.4 percent).
“It’s been something that I think we’ve been good at,” Schmidt said of closing games. “It feels like we scored, and then we stopped playing.”
Video: CBJ@VGK: Eakin hammers one-timer on odd man rush
Anderson scored at 4:04 of the first period to give Columbus a 1-0 lead. Vegas coach Gerard Gallant challenged for interference by Anderson against Fleury, but the goal was upheld by video review.
Schmidt scored 32 seconds later to tie it 1-1 at 4:36 when his centering pass went in off Blue Jackets center Pierre-Luc Dubois.
Merrill scored the first shorthanded goal by a defenseman in Vegas history at 17:49 of the first to give the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead.
Panarin tied it 2-2 at 15:31 of the second when he shot into an open net from the left face-off circle after Fleury got caught out of his crease after Oliver Bjorkstrand‘s dump-in took an big bounce off the end boards.
Video: CBJ@VGK: Panarin pots goal off Fleury’s miscue
Columbus outshot Vegas 9-3 in the second period.
“We played really well,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. “I thought our second period was one of our better periods all year. We just kept our patience and found a way.”
They said it
“I thought for the first two periods, the puck was bouncing on us. We had some good chances, but the puck was kind of spinning. Third period, I thought we just stuck with it. It’s hard to score goals in this league. In order to score goals, you have to get to the tough areas, and I think we did that tonight.” — Blue Jackets forward Cam Atkinson
“We played great hockey in the first period. I really liked it. I didn’t expect that second period at all. We just didn’t have any jump. It looked like we were skating in quicksand a little bit. That caught up to us.” — Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant
Need to know
Atkinson reached 30 goals for the second time in his NHL career (35 in 2016-17). The Golden Knights allowed a power-play goal for the third consecutive game. … Vegas forward Jonathan Marchessault got his 100th NHL assist on Schmidt’s goal. … Schmidt tied his NHL career high with his fifth goal, set last season in 76 games. … Golden Knights forward William Carrier had eight hits in 10:36 in his return to the lineup. He missed the previous 12 games with an undisclosed injury.
What’s next
Blue Jackets: Host the Washington Capitals on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; FS-O, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, FS-A, NHL.TV)
from A Viral Update http://bit.ly/2E5050D
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