In Columbus Tuesday night, the Blue Jackets lost the game, gained the loser’s point and lost their goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, to an undisclosed injury in a 3-2 loss in extra time to the Los Angeles Kings.
Jeff Carter’s late goal tied game with Columbus – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“You hope he’s OK,” Columbus defenseman Jack Johnson said. “It’s something at that point where you’re more concerned with the hockey game. We still had a few minutes left. It was kind of surprising.”
Alec Martinez scored the game-winner with 27 seconds left in OT.
“The name of the game in 3-on-3 is puck possession,” Martinez said. “It’s a lot of fun when you get your opportunities. If you don’t get the puck, it’s the worst. I just had to put it backdoor. Those two guys did all the work. I ended up being at the right spot.”
Curtis McElhinney replaced Bobrovsky and yielded the tying goal to Jeff Carte at 18:33 of the third.
“This group, for the most part has been together for a long time,” Martinez said. “We’ve been in our share of one-goal games. We feel comfortable with them.”
Scott Hartnell and Matt Calvert had goals for Columbus.
“Good teams find a way to win, especially when you’re up by a goal,” Columbus right wing Cam Atkinson said. “Obviously with [Bobrovsky] going down, [McElhinney] stepped up big for us. He got us to overtime. I wish it never got there, but it is what it is. We got one point out of it and have to move on.”
Jonathan Quick had 21 saves in win over Jackets – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Christian Ehrhoff scored the Kings’ first goal of the game.
The first gasket may have blown on the John Tortorella engine with his reaction after the game.
“That was men against boys tonight. We should be embarrassed. I am. I am,” Tortorella said. “Obviously, I’m not doing a good enough job to get the team ready in these type of situations. I’m totally embarrassed by the way we played.”
Jonathan Quick had 21 saves in the win.
“I don’t think we should have been down 2-0,” Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter said. “We played well enough to be leading after one and leading after two and we still could have won it regulation.”
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