Atkinson's two goals tie it, win it for Blue Jackets

Cam Atkinson scored two goals in the third period, including the game-winner with 2:39 remaining, and Artemi Panarin had a goal and two assists to lead the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets to a 4-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night. They were the 30th and 31st goals of the season for Atkinson, who hit the 30-goal mark for the second time in the last three seasons.

The second came on a power play after Paul Stastny was called for slashing, firing a wrist shot from the top of the right circle just over the glove of Marc-Andre Fleury and under the crossbar. Josh Anderson tied his career-high with his 19th goal for the Blue Jackets, who extended their winning streak to three games by sweeping their western road trip, which also included victories at Colorado (6-3) and Arizona (4-2).

Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 20 saves, many coming on close-in chances, as Columbus moved into sole possession of third place in Metropolitan Division. Cody Eakin, Nate Schmidt and Jon Merrill scored goals and Reilly Smith had two assists for Vegas, which had a two-game winning streak snapped. It also was the third straight home loss for the Golden Knights, who fell to 16-7-3 at T-Mobile Arena this season. Fleury finished with 29 saves.

Anderson, who scored the game-winning goal in both of the first two games of the trip, gave Columbus a 1-0 lead when a Seth Jones shot deflected off his skate and past Fleury's stick side. Vegas came back to tie it 32 seconds later with Schmidt's fifth goal of the season when his crossing pass for Jonathan Marchessault hit the skate of Pierre-Luc Dubois and caromed into the top right corner of the net.

Merrill then gave the Golden Knights a 2-1 near the end of the first period with his first career short-handed goal, firing in a rebound of a Marchessault shot from the slot inside the left post. Columbus tied it 2-2 near the end of the second period when the puck ricocheted off the end boards past Fleury in the crease and into the slot, where Panarin fired it into a wide-open net for his 21st goal of the season.

Eakin then put Vegas back ahead with his 15th goal, one-timing a crossing pass from Pierre-Edouard Bellemare at the end of an odd-man rush from the top of the slot past Bobrovsky's glove side. Atkinson tied it 3-3 five minutes later when he put in his own rebound past Fleury's stick side, then scored the game-winner less than three minutes later.

--Field Level Media

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