Artemi Panarin scores in OT, Blue Jackets rally to beat Maple Leafs

TORONTO – Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky had a hard time holding back his smile after a come-from-behind victory over Toronto.

Artemi Panarin scored 3:11 into overtime to help the Blue Jackets overcome a two-goal deficit and beat the Maple Leafs 3-2 on Monday night.

Bobrovsky made 35 saves, including a handful of big ones to keep his team within 2-0 before a third-period rally. Columbus scored twice in the final 4:35 of the third period to set up Panarin’s OT goal, when he took a pass off his skate and kicked it to his stick for the winner.

“Those kind of wins make good atmosphere in the locker room, lots of energy, lots of happiness,” Bobrovsky said.

Nick Foligno and Pierre-Luc Dubois scored in the third for Columbus. Foligno scored after goalie Frederik Andersen lost a bouncing puck before it found its way behind him, then Dubois tied it with 2:47 left, snapping a wrist shot blocker side on Andersen from the slot.

“We knew if we scored one somehow that it changes momentum,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella. “The saves (Andersen) made during the game and that one goes in … it’s a funny game.”

James van Riemsdyk and William Nylander scored for the Maple Leafs. Andersen stopped 30 shots.

“At least 50 minutes or so we played great, I think we could have put it away in the third and we didn’t. Then they get a good bounce and, yeah, it’s tied up,” Andersen said.

Andersen kept the Leafs in it long enough for van Riemsdyk to open the scoring at 11:09 of the second period, deflecting Roman Polak’s point shot past Bobrovsky for his 18th goal.

Nylander doubled the lead on the power play with 3:58 to go in the second, shooting a wrist shot over the glove of a screened Bobrovsky for his ninth.

Blue Jackets forward Sonny Milano left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury and didn’t return after being on the receiving end of a check from Andreas Borgman.

The Leafs started the third the way they finished the second and could have put the game away if it wasn’t for Bobrovsky, who turned away Connor Brown and Nazem Kadri on point-blank chances.

“Some nights when you’re ahead you get on your heels and the other team takes it to you. That wasn’t the case at all. It was the opposite way around. But they scored on their opportunities that we gave them,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said.