What odds would a bookmaker give on the Columbus Blue Jackets winning at Minnesota if they were to give up four power play goals to the Wild? Whatever those odds might have been, the Blue Jackets provided a big payoff by scoring seven goals to grab their first win of the season, 7-4.

Columbus scored early in all three periods. In the first, Miles Wood recorded his first goal as a Blue Jacket at the 2:29 mark. They made it 2-0 only seven seconds into the second frame when Kirill Marchenko scored the first of his three goals on the night. It would be the fourth hat trick of his career.

The Wild fought back in the second to tie the score with power play goals from Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov. The Blue Jackets asked for a review of the Boldy goal alleging goalie interference in a play which resembled the one called against Columbus in Nashville two nights earlier. Toronto did not agree and allowed the goal.

Marchenko scored his second goal with 1:12 left in the second and the Blue Jackets led 3-2 going to the second intermission. 

Columbus went up 5-2 with scores from Zach Werenski and Marchenko with only 3:01 gone in the third period. Minnesota’s Zeev Buium cut the lead to 5-3 midway through the period with his first NHL goal.

The Blue Jackets countered when Adam Fantilli deflected a Boone Jenner shot into the net at the 10:47 mark. It was the 5,000th goal in team history. Again, the Wild responded with a power play goal from Kaprizov to make it 6-4 with 4:11 left in regulation.

Columbus sealed the win with an empty-net goal from Jenner, the 200th of his NHL career, all with the Blue Jackets. Only Rick Nash (289) and Cam Atkinson (213) have scored more for Columbus. The captain said after the game that he would give the puck to his newborn son, Tommy.

Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins earned the win in his first start of the season. He stopped 48 of the 52 shots he faced for a .923 save percentage. Merzlikins was perfect on the night in 5-on-5 situations. On the other side of the ice, Filip Gustavsson saved 25 of 31 Columbus shots.

Besides giving up four power play goals, the Jackets will look to correct some sloppy play from Saturday night’s win. They had three delay penalties for knocking the puck over the glass, a penalty for having too many men on the ice, and another penalty when Marchenko caught a puck and made a move without putting it on the ice.

Columbus returns to Nationwide Arena for their home opener Monday against the New Jersey Devils. As is the team’s custom, there will be festivities on the Nationwide Plaza beginning at 3:30 p.m., with the players arriving and walking the blue carpet at 4:00 p.m. After all of that, the puck will drop at 7:00 p.m.