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Columbus Blue Jackets claw out a point from OT loss to Utah Hockey Club
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- Columbus Blue Jackets claw out a point from OT loss to Utah Hockey Club
Damon Severson woke up sold-out Nationwide Arena with his fists Thursday night, and Ivan Provorov scored a short-handed tying goal a couple minutes later to help the Blue Jackets scratch out a point in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Utah Hockey Club .
The two veteran defensemen weren't able to give the Blue Jackets a victory, which disappointed a crowd of 18,553 after Utah's Dylan Guenther scored with 33 seconds left in OT, but the Blue Jackets still collected a point from a gutsy effort during an injury crisis with six players out. They were also forced to kill a Utah power play with top defenseman Zach Werenski in the penalty box for the final 1:22 of regulation and first 38 seconds of overtime.
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"That's a good point tonight," Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. "Of course we wanted two, but to kill a penalty 4-on-3 like that at the end and (deal with) some adversity that we went through, it's great that we can put this in the memory bank and go, 'OK, maybe we don't have some people, maybe we don't have our best stuff but we're able to play the way that we know how to play,' and we're going to give ourselves a chance."
Earning a point moved the Blue Jackets to 60 points through their first 55 games, which has them one point back of the Detroit Red Wings (61 points) for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Jackets are two behind the Ottawa Senators (62 points) for the first wild card and are tied in points with the Boston Bruins (27-23-6) in one fewer game played.
Blue Jackets defenseman Damon Severson moves the puck up ice against Utah on Feb. 6.
The race in the East is tight, including the New York Rangers only three points behind the Blue Jackets heading into a game Saturday night in Columbus . Each team will start the NHL's annual February midseason pause afterward, so the stakes will be high again.
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"Injuries happen throughout the season for everybody," Severson said. "Obviously, it sucks. You want to play with your full projected lineup and we're no different in that, but a lot of the guys have stepped in and done a real good job for us. There's no sugar-coating it, but we've got to put a team on the ice every night, and we'll do the best we can. We're still finding a way to get points. That's the main thing."
Lawson Crouse and Olli Maata scored the goals in regulation for Utah, while Justin Danforth and Provorov scored for the Blue Jackets (26-21-8). Elvis Merzlikins started his third straight game and made 30 saves while taking the OT loss for Columbus. Connor Ingram made 20 saves while earning the goaltending win for Utah.
Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins makes a save during the second period of Columbus' 3-2 overtime loss to the Utah Hockey Club.
Danforth's goal, his first since Nov. 18 and fourth of the season, gave the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead 5:51 into the game. After that, Utah dominated the game's underlying statistics with wide edges in shots, attempts and possession time. The yet-to-be-named club tied it 2:06 into the second on Crawson's goal and surged ahead, 2-1, at 12:33 into the second on goal by defenseman Maata.
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Severson changed the game by fighting Utah's Michael Kesselring late in the second period, when Severson took exception to Utah defenseman Michael Kesselring's hit on Blue Jackets rookie forward Mikael Pyyhtia in the Columbus zone. He grabbed Kesselring, dropped his gloves and landed a punch or two before officials broke up the scrap.
Severson was given an extra two minutes for roughing, which incensed the crowd, and the Blue Jackets killed off the ensuing Utah power play. Provorov tied it, 2-2, with five seconds left in the man-advantage on his first NHL short-handed tally, which gave Zach Werenski a point with an assist to extend his franchise record home point streak to 20-straight games.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets claw out point from OT loss to Utah Hockey Club
