BOSTON — Seth Jones took control of the puck behind the Columbus goal line in overtime and saw a lot of open ice ahead of him.
He got by Bruins forward David Krejci deep in the Blue Jackets’ zone and then stickhandled David Pastrnak onto the back of his skates. From there, he and Pierre-Luc Dubois had a wide-open two-on-one for the game-winner.
“He just took off,” Columbus Coach John Tortorella said after Jones fed Dubois with 52 seconds gone in overtime to lead the Blue Jackets to a 2-1 victory over the Bruins on Thursday night. “He put it into another gear. That’s always impressive.”
Sonny Milano also scored for the Blue Jackets in his first game back since Dec. 14. Rookie Elvis Merzlikins, who is filling in after starter Joonas Korpisalo was injured, stopped 25 shots to earn his second straight victory after Columbus lost his first nine appearances.
“When you have injuries, nobody feels bad for you. Nobody stops. Nobody changes their game,” said Dubois, who has eight points in his last eight games, including three winning goals. “They all see an opportunity.”
Pastrnak scored his 30th goal of the season for Boston, and Tuukka Rask made 31 saves as the Bruins lost in overtime or a shootout for the third time in four games. Boston is tied with Washington at 59 points for the most in the NHL, recording a point in nine straight games despite winning just four of them.
In all, the Bruins are 0-6 in shootouts and 2-5 in games that end in overtime.
“It would be better if we won more of them,” Rask said. “But try not to get frustrated. Just keep plugging away and hopefully we’ll start turning those overtime losses into wins, too.”
Columbus seemed to score in the first 17 seconds when Gustav Nyquist beat Rask, but the replay showed goaltender interference and the goal was waved off.
Tortorella, who was fined $20,000 by the NHL for criticizing the officials after Sunday’s loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, held his temper.
“I think he was fine,” Jones said. “I think he was fine, for once.”
It remained scoreless until Pastrnak scored five seconds into a man advantage – his NHL-leading 14th power-play goal of the season. Milano tied it when his centering pass bounced off Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk’s heel and past Rask.
NOTES: The Bruins got some reinforcements with Ds Charlie McAvoy and Torey Krug returning after missing three games; David Krejci missed one game. … Pastrnak is the fastest Bruin to 30 goals (42 games) since Cam Neely did it in 27 in 1993-94. … Zdeno Chara played in his fourth decade, one of 14 players in NHL history to do so. Sharks forwards Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau also played in their fourth decade Thursday night.
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