Blue Jackets get thier first win on Panarin's OT game winner over Red Wings

DETROIT, MI - OCTOBER 04: Josh Anderson #77 of the Columbus Blue Jackets celebrates his second period goal with teammates while playing the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on October 4, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Columbus brought an abrupt end to what looked to be a Detroit win on opening night Thursday. Artemi Panarin stayed patient before scoring in overtime to give his surging team a 3-2 victory over the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena. Their push of shots early in the game became the surge that Detroit couldn’t overcome resulting in a home loss to start the 2018-19 season.

The Red Wings take a different look this season unlike any of recent. Five rookies made their season debut in an NHL game replacing veterans who suddenly found themselves out. Michael Rasmussen impressed the front office enough to assure himself a spot on the second line while Christopher Ehn gets into the fourth line. Detroit’s defense had three new faces at the blue line who would have to get in action fast with Danny DeKeyser leading his teammates. With the chance to play against the Blue Jackets who decided to put in Joonas Korpisalo in for Bobrovsky to give him a chance to perform strong in his debut between the pipes.

The game began at a slow pace with the Red Wings getting a small edge against Columbus early. After five minutes, the Blue Jackets made the difference on the scoreboard during the power play. With action taking place behind the net of Howard, Cam Atkinson got into place to accept the puck and fire a one-timer giving him his first of the season. It was just their second shot of the game but the one that put Detroit on notice to pick up the pace or trail behind.

Columbus got into another gear where they fired the puck away at Howard with the Red Wings defense looking for ways to clear it out. With several shots taken, they couldn’t get a second one behind him just in time for Detroit to push the puck out of their zone. Although they gained a few more shots against Korpisalo, Detroit was falling back with the Blue Jackets in form shooting eight on Howard but not getting another inch on the score. Howard stopped six straight including a late minute power play that closed out the period. The Blue Jackets outshot Detroit 11-5 as the Red Wings were slow to start with the blue line shaking off the jitters.

Getting on track while at home proved to be difficult for the young squad as Columbus came out of the gate fast to start the second stanza. By the six minute mark, they added five shots at Howard but weren’t allowed to get another one behind him. The Detroit netminder gave his team an opportunity to get their act together and create a strong offense. No more than 90 seconds later, did the Red Wings even the game with a great read from Dennis Cholowski who saw a pass opportunity to get Detroit on the board with his first NHL career goal.

When it gave life to the offense of the Red Wings, they managed to get their first chance on a full power play to try to get the lead in hand with nine minutes left on the clock. Columbus didn’t give them a chance even when Korpisalo lost his stick during a Red Wings attack. They made them pay for it after the conclusion of the man advantage where they got a 3 on 1 chance with the puck bouncing around in front of Howard before Josh Anderson got the chance to score his first.

Detroit got even again three minutes with the special doing work to get their power play to work. It seemed that three was a charm as they forced the puck to the net before Tyler Bertuzzi got it through Korpisalo to score. The leverage went back into the hands of the Blue Jackets as DeKeyser took a penalty in the late stages of the period. Their PK unit fought to get the puck off their opponent’s sticks to kill off time and create a shorthanded opportunity in the neutral zone. They got back to even strength with 35 ticks left to try and add to their bottom line and keep the heat on their former division rivals. It cost them with yet another penalty to put them down a man for the remainder with 1:46 rolled into the third. While they clearly improved on getting deep with the Blue Jackets on shots and scoring chances, they had to get better on the faceoff with the score still even.

Detroit made it their first mission to kill off the rest of Columbus’s time on the man advantage to get the third underway. They followed it up with getting the puck into the Blue Jackets end with Joe Hicketts intent on joining his teammates on the scoring sheet. When it looked like Detroit would create some chances for themselves, the Blue Jackets went back on the attack and gained more time with the puck pressuring the Red Wings defense and Howard.

They were given a sixth power play but Detroit denied them again from getting away with the lead. The teams went forward in the period and battled each other but the reality was Columbus still had more time with the puck with Detroit’s young players showing a lot of grit but not enough on the offensive side of the puck. Time quickly fell off the clock with the score still locked at two apiece as neither Howard or Korpisalo was willing to give up the game winner.

It resulted in both Columbus and Detroit going to overtime to settle the question on who would post their first victory. The Blue Jackets had outshot the Red Wings 38-17 but failed on five consecutive power plays with the new defenseman doing what had to be done in order to have chances.

Detroit made it their mission to push for chances to get the game winner into the net and contain a great start. The Red Wings took two shots before they lost possession with Panarin going in on a lone shot at Howard. Though he didn’t make it happen on his own, it gave the Blue Jackets time to wait it out and find their second chance. Captain Nick Foligno came in to help change up the line while the 26 year old Russian waited and saved energy on the ice. After three more chances, he got Howard’s left halfway in the zone where his final drive became the game winner.

Despite the loss, Howard had much to be proud of with the help from his young defense where he and them stopped a total of 36 shots on the night to get themselves a point from the first of the 82 game season. While it wasn’t the result the majority wanted, Detroit would switch up quick and prove their worth on the road out west facing the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday night.