With a 1:36 left in the first extra session, Pierre-Luc Dubois polished off a hat trick with the game-wining goal as the Columbus Blue Jackets rallied from an early 0-3 deficit for a 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.
“[Texier] made a nice play, didn’t pass it right away, didn’t chip it right away, just kept the puck, was patient with it and passed a nice little saucer up the middle of the ice to get me free on the breakaway,” Dubois said. “That was a [heck] of a play by him.”
Joonas Korpisalo got the started and yielded all three Maple Leafs goals and made 12 saves.
He was relieved by Elvis Merzlikins who made 21 saves for the win.
Seth Jones also scored for the Jackets.
“Down 3-0 is never a spot you want to be in,” Jones said. “But we stayed with it, started playing some good hockey, late second and third period, and found ourselves back into it. Overtime wasn’t our best, but we found a way to stick together, play solid defense, block some shots and ultimately we got a chance and [Dubois] didn’t miss it.”
Game 4 is Friday night.
“I want them to have a ball right now, that’s why we play,” Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella said. “It was a really good game by both teams. It’s too bad fans weren’t in the building. I want them to enjoy themselves right now in the proper way. I trust them. They’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”
Nicholas Robertson, Cody Ceci (shorthanded) and William Nylander scored for the Leafs.
[WATCH: All Maple Leafs vs. Blue Jackets highlights]
Frederik Andersen made 39 saves in the loss.
“Well, I feel like the game just got away from us right from the start,” Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “I didn’t like our game in the first period, didn’t like our game at 1-0, didn’t like our game at 2-0, 3-0. We just got what we deserved today. I thought we reverted back to a lot of really bad habits. We didn’t have any real purpose or plan to our game today, we were just making it up as we go along. So we get what we deserve.”
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