Columbus digs deep to beat Smith and Coyotes

Mike Smith

PHOENIX: The Columbus Blue Jackets led 13 seconds in and then poured on a flurry of shots — and still needed a late rally and shootout to beat Mike Smith and the Arizona Coyotes.
Columbus pummeled Smith with a franchise-record 60 shots, Alexander Wennberg scored with 2:16 left in the third period and the Blue Jackets beat the Coyotes 3-2 in a shootout in their NHL match Saturday night.
Boone Jenner put Columbus ahead early off a pass from Jack Johnson, but then Smith stopped 47 consecutive shots until Wennberg’s tying tally.
“I think they have a belief,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. “They weren’t playing terribly. Smitty played so well. But we kept working at it.”
Columbus is the first NHL team with 60 shots in a game since Toronto against the New York Islanders on Nov. 23, 2009, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Jackets’ previous high was 54 shots on April 3, 2012 — a 2-0 loss to Smith and the Coyotes.
Smith set a franchise record with 58 saves, but the Coyotes still lost their third straight. He has faced 40 or more shots in four of Arizona’s past eight games.
“Frustration would be a good word, but it’s even more than that right now,” Smith said. “At some point, you’d like to see the team move forward and take the step to be able to win hockey games. But we take one step forward and two steps back. It’s hard to win hockey games like that.”
In Nashville, Michael Cammalleri’s second goal with 18 seconds left in overtime capped New Jersey's comeback from three goals down in the third period and gave them a 5-4 win over the Nashville Predators.
Taylor Hall took a pass from Cammalleri and brought the puck up the right side into the offensive zone on a 2-on-1 break, passed it back to Cammalleri cutting up the middle and he fired it past Predators goalie Pekka Rinne.
Cammalleri started the Devils’ comeback from a 4-1 deficit after two periods as he fired a rebound into an open net 25 seconds into the third.
Andy Greene and Adam Henrique also scored in the third, while Hall had a goal and two assists for the Devils, who were 0-4-2 in their previous six road games. Keith Kincaid stopped 38 shots.
In Edmonton, Leon Draisaitl scored 3:16 into overtime and Edmonton came away with a 3-2 victory over Anaheim.
Drake Caggiula and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored for the Oilers, who have won two in a row. Jordan Eberle assisted on all three goals.
Kari Lehtonen had 23 saves for his first shutout of the season as Dallas beat Colorado 3-0 in Denver.
Patrick Eaves and Tyler Seguin each had a goal and an assist, and Curtis McKenzie also scored.
In other games, Ottawa beat the visiting Florida 2-0, Boston won 2-1 at Buffalo, Winnipeg won 3-2 in overtime at St. Louis, Tampa Bay won 2-1 in a shoot-out at home to Washington, and Vancouver won 3-2 in a shootout against the visiting Toronto.
Philadelphia won 3-1 at home to Chicago, the New York Rangers won 4-2 at home to Carolina, and Pittsburgh beat the visiting Detroit 5-3.