It was an emotional rollercoaster for the sell-out crowd at Nationwide Arena Friday. The Columbus Blue Jackets fell behind 3-0 in the first period, then tied the game in the second, 3-3. Back and forth it went before winding up in a shootout, in which the Blue Jackets’ Kent Johnson was the only player to score for a 7-6 Columbus win over the visiting Vancouver Canucks.

With 6:34 left in the opening period, the Canucks were up 3-0. Two power play goals – from Linus Karlsson and Jake DeBrusk – bookended an even-strength score from Brock Boeser to give Vancouver what could have been an insurmountable lead. This night is was just the appetizer.

Columbus responded early in the second period. Just 26 seconds into the stanza, Boone Jenner deflected a Denton Mateychuk shot to get the Jackets on the board. Goals from Kirill Marchenko and Dante Fabbro got Columbus to even at 3-3 with 11:16 to go before the second intermission. 

At the halfway point of the second period, Elias Pettersson committed a double-minor high-sticking penalty, giving the Blue Jackets four minutes of power play time. Instead of building on their momentum, the air came out of the arena when Columbus gave up a shorthanded goal to Tyler Myers with sloppy play at the Jackets’ blue line. It was 4-3, Canucks, going to the third period.

And what a wild period it proved to be. Vancouver took a two-goal lead at the 6:42 mark when Aatu Raty carried the puck into the Jackets’ zone and ripped a shot past Elvis Merzlikins from the left circle. Denton Mateychuk responded with a slap shot goal just 21 seconds later. 

After a Columbus goal was waved off after review because of goalie interference, the Blue Jackets were able to gather themselves and score twice to take a 6-5 lead. Boone Jenner posted his second of the game with 3:12 to go, followed by one from Mathieu Olivier 22 seconds later. Vancouver’s Raty tied the game at 6-6 just 23 seconds after that.

The crowd took a collective breath to ready themselves for overtime. Neither squad scored in the extra frame, so it went to a shootout. Kent Johnson went first and scored on a nifty move in front of Canucks’ goalie Kevin Lankinen. The Jackets wouldn’t score again, but they didn’t need to as Merzlikins stopped all three Vancouver attempts for the 7-6 victory, the second straight shootout win for Columbus.

With the win, and losses by Montreal and the New York Rangers, the Blue Jackets moved back into the second wild card spot in the NHL’s Eastern Division. Columbus traveled to Ottawa after the game to prepare for a Saturday matchup with the Senators. The puck drop is slated for 7:00 p.m.