St. Louis Blues Erik Johnson is congratulated by teammates after scoring the winning goal in overtime against the Columbus Blue Jackets. UPI/Bill Greenblatt
The St. Louis Blues are not going down without a fight. Erik Johnson’s power-play goal with just over a minute left in overtime kept the Blues’ playoff hopes alive with a 2-1 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night.
Andy McDonald scored the other Blues’ goal and assisted on the game winner as the Blues have won five in a row on home ice, where they have played terrible the entire season. The Blues (39-31-9) are four points behind the eighth-place Colorado Avalanche with three games remaining. Colorado swept St. Louis this season and thus has the tiebreaker. The Avs play tonight and a win will knock the Blues out of playoff contention.
Columbus got on the board first when Derick Brassard scored a power-play goal 3:10 into the game. Jackets’ goalie Mathieu Garon made 32 saves, but St. Louis went nearly 12 minutes before getting a shot on goal.
In the overtime period, the Blues went on the power-play after Marc Methot was whistled for holding with 1:43 left, and Johnson ended the game with a blast from the point with 1:01 on the clock.