Antoine Vermette scored the winning goal in the third period to lift the Columbus Blue Jackets off the bottom of their division with a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Friday.
Vermette’s wrist shot at 5:22 gave the Blue Jackets a two-goal advantage, enabling the visitors to cling on for victory after Calgary’s Rene Bourque reduced the deficit to one. Vermette also assisted on both of his team’s other goals.
Raffi Torres opened the scoring 1:25 into the game and Jan Hejda made it 2-1 in the second for Columbus (17-20-9), who moved two points clear of the St Louis Blues at the foot of the Central Division.
The win also has the Blue Jackets setting their sights on fighting for possible playoff position.
“You never know, other teams have come from far back,” Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock told reporters. “If we can keep playing well and get this thing to .500 then we have the big home schedule in February, March and April, we can still do some damage.”
After falling behind, Mark Giordano equalized for the Flames to make it 1-1 at 15:47 in the first period, but Calgary (25-14-5) struggled thereafter and fell to a second consecutive defeat.
“The whole night, we didn’t take enough shots, didn’t create enough shots or enough chances,” Calgary captain Jarome Iginla said.
The Blue Jackets have won two straight on the road after losing 13 straight away from home. Goaltender Mathieu Garon stopped 20 shots for his 100th NHL win.
JERSEY DEVILS V LIGHTNING
In Newark, the New Jersey Devils’ game against the Tampa Bay Lightning was suspended when a lighting failure during the second period could not be fixed.
The teams waited more than an hour and 40 minutes before the Devils announced the game would be rescheduled.
The Lightning led 3-0 with 9:12 left in the period when the lights dimmed at the Devils end and could not be relit. The game will resume at the point it was stopped, putting Tampa Bay in a strong position to end its run of 10 straight losses to the Devils.
Also on Friday, it was:
• Sabres 3, Maple Leafs 2
• Stars 4, Islanders 3
• Hurricanes 2, Avalanche 1
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