COLUMBUS, Ohio — Center Alex Khokhlachev, called up from the minor leagues on Thursday, scored in the seventh round of a shootout on Friday night to the lead the Boston Bruins to a 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets in Nationwide Arena.
Khokhlachev was the only shooter for either team to score in the seven-round shootout.
Boston got third-period goals from defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, right wing Matt Fraser and left wing Daniel Paille, coming back from a 2-0 deficit with a third-period rally.
Bruins backup goaltender Niklas Svedberg had 24 saves.
Blue Jackets center Ryan Johansen had a goal and two assists, while left winger Nick Foligno had his club-leading 10th goal of the season, and defenseman Jack Johnson scored his first goal of the season.
Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky survived a shaky third period — he allowed a goal to get past him from the neutral zone early in the third — to make 38 saves.
The Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead at 9:52 of the first period when Johansen blocked a shot by Boston defenseman Kevan Millar and gathered the puck behind him in the neutral zone.
With the Bruins changing lines, Johansen was free on a breakaway, and he wristed the puck under the left arm of Svedberg for his seventh goal of the season.
Only 98 seconds later, it was 2-0 Blue Jackets.
Defenseman Jordan Leopold fired a wrister from the blue line just as Foligno skated in front of Svedberg’s path. The puck hit off Foligno’s backside and deflected past Svedberg.
The game seemed to be fully in Columbus’ control into the early stages of the third period.
But, at 1:28 of the third, Seidenberg loosed a slap shot from beyond the blue line when Bobrovsky was least expecting it.
The puck shot through his pads before he could squeeze it, trickling slowly over the goal line to make it 2-1.
It gave the Bruins life, and seemed to sap the Blue Jackets of their speed and energy.
At 9:33 of the third, Boston tied it on a goal that Bobrovsky had no chance to save.
Bruins defenseman Matt Bartkowski took a wrist shot from inside the blue line, and Fraser redirected it up and over Bobrovsky’s shoulder to make it 2-2.
The next goal, two minutes later, was scored in much the same fashion.
Paille gathered a turnover in the high slot of the Blue Jackets’ zone. He turned and fired, his shot kicking off the backside of Blue Jackets defenseman James Wisniewski and changing directions before it got past Bobrovsky.
But only 1:15 later, Johnson pulled the Blue Jackets back to even with a wrister through the crowd on the left dot to make it 3-3.
NOTES: Bruins C Brad Marchand did not travel with the club because of an undisclosed injury. … Columbus D Jack Johnson declined comment to the media regarding the bankruptcy filing that reportedly has divided his family. The Columbus Dispatch reported Thursday that Johnson claims less than $50,000 in assets and more than $10 million in debt because of his parents’ misspending. … Boston C David Krejci was out of the lineup Friday night for the seventh time in nine games because of a lower-body injury. … Boston C Alex Khokhlachev, called up from minor-league Providence on Thursday, played his second NHL game, taking Krejci’s spot between LW Milan Lucic and RW Spencer Griffith. … D Kevin Connauton, acquired off waivers from Dallas on Wednesday, made his Blue Jackets debut last night. … Blue Jackets LW Matt Calvert, who missed five games with a lower-body injury, and RW Jack Skille, who missed four games with a head/neck injury, returned to the lineup Friday night.
Islanders 5, Penguins 4 (SO)
PITTSBURGH — Kyle Okposo scored the decisive shootout goal in impressive fashion as the New York Islanders edged the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 for a rare victory at Consol Energy Center on Friday.
Okposo, a right winger, beat Marc-Andre Fluery badly, denying the Penguins goaltender his 300th career victory.
Center Frans Nielson also scored in the shootout for the Islanders, who won for just the sixth time in their last 28 games in Pittsburgh. Center Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins in the tiebreaking skills competition.
Center Ryan Strome had a goal and two assists for the Islanders (13-6-0) in regulation and left wingers Matt Martin and Nikolay Kulemin and defenseman Nick Leddy also scored. Backup goaltender Chad Johnson stopped 26 shots.
The Penguins tied the game at 4 with seven minutes remaining in regulation when right winger Patric Hornqvist scored his team-leading 10th goal of the season.
Also scoring goals for the Penguins (13-4-1) were center Brandon Sutter, left winger Blake Comeau and center Nick Spaling. Center Evgeni Malkin had a pair of assists.
Fluery made 31 saves as Pittsburgh had its three-game winning streak snapped.
The Penguins briefly thought they won the game with 3:15 left in overtime when defenseman Kris Letang tried to stuff a wraparound past Johnson and the arena goal horn sounded. Defenseman Johnny Boychuk got his stick on the puck to stuff Letang on the goal line, however.
Oddly, the Islanders improved to 6-1-0 in games in which the opposing team scores first.