COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)—It was one more small step for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Lasse Pirjeta and Grant Marshall scored goals 17 seconds apart in the second period as the Blue Jackets tied Colorado 2-2 Tuesday night for their first point ever against the Avalanche.
Colorado had won each of the previous 10 meetings over the Blue Jackets’ first 2 1/2 seasons.
“I remember all of them,” Columbus interim coach and general manager Doug MacLean said.
Then he added, “I don’t know that it was that big of a deal. We just wanted to play well and stay involved in the race.”
Avalanche goaltender Patrick Roy had been the chief culprit against the Blue Jackets, coming in with an 8-0 record and a 1.26 goals-against average. He had shut out Columbus 5-0 on Thursday night in Denver in what Blue jackets goaltender Marc Denis called an embarrassment.
“I felt it was a different team tonight,” Pirjeta said. “Everybody really worked hard tonight. We really earned a point.”
Riding a two-game shutout streak that began with that game, Roy had not given up a goal in more than 192 minutes when Columbus broke through.
“I thought we slept a little bit in the second period,” Roy said. “We got away from the way we always play in our own end. We weren’t sharp in our own end like we were in the previous game.”
With Colorado ahead 1-0 on Adam Foote’s first-period goal, the Blue Jackets set a franchise record for fastest back-to-back goals.
Pirjeta went high over Roy’s left shoulder from the right dot for his eighth goal at 12:13.
Before that goal could be announced to a capacity crowd of 18,136, the Blue Jackets had a 2-1 lead.
Grant Marshall passed the puck into the crease from a hard angle, the puck glancing off of Roy and sliding into the net.
“I was just trying to go and make the save and my stick was flat on the ice. I rarely do that,” said Roy, who had 17 saves. “I don’t know if I should say it was bad luck or a bad decision on my part. It hit my hand and went in.”
Roy came in as the NHL’s player of the week after stopping 86 of the last 87 shots he had faced.
Colorado pulled even 6:16 into the final period when Alex Tanguay pounced on the puck after Columbus’ Luke Richardson blocked a shot by Foote. The puck floated near the left dot and Tanguay swooped in and shot, beating Denis on the near side.
“I was surprised he was all alone,” Tanguay said. “I just threw the puck there to see what would happen.”
Colorado had the only three shots in the overtime. In the final seconds, Peter Forsberg carried the puck from mid-ice with Jaroslav Spacek the only defender back with Denis. Forsberg deked in the high slot but his shot was wide just as the final horn sounded.
The Avalanche got on the board at 7:55 of the first period when Foote shed a check by Columbus’ Jody Shelley and then slid into the slot in time to redirect Tanguay’s blast from the top of the right circle. Forsberg, who came in with five goals and 10 points in five career games against the Blue Jackets, also assisted on Foote’s fifth goal of the season.
“When you get a lead on the road, you would like to be able to get two points so from that standpoint it was disappointing,” Colorado coach Tony Granato said. “From the other standpoint we were trailing going into the third and we were able to get one (point).”
Columbus was close to full strength for the first time in several weeks. Defenseman Scott Lachance returned after missing 12 games with a high ankle sprain, defenseman Rostislav Klesla after an eight-game absence with a dislocated shoulder and Knutsen who was out for 39 games after abdominal surgery.
“We had our chances to win,” Knutsen said. “But one point againstColorado isn’t bad.”
NOTES
It was a hard-hitting game, with Richardson setting the tone in the opening minute with a jarring check at center ice that leveled Milan Hejduk. … Denis finished with 34 saves. … Neither team converted on the power play, with Colorado having a man advantage four times and Columbus three. …Columbus rookie LW Rick Nash missed his second game with a hip pointer.
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