DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin scored midway through overtime, lifting the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night in the opener for both teams.
Cam Atkinson and Josh Anderson gave Columbus the lead over the first two periods. Rookie Dennis Cholowski and Tyler Bertuzzi pulled the Red Wings into a tie with goals in the second period.
Joonas Korpisalo stopped 18 shots for the Blue Jackets. Detroit's Jimmy Howard made 36 saves.
The rebuilding Red Wings honored Henrik Zetterberg, whose career is over because of a back ailment, before the game. Then, the team put five players on the ice who were playing for the first time in the NHL.
Cholowski, Christoffer Ehn, Michael Rasmussen, Filip Hronek and Libor Sulak all made their debut.
The last time an NHL team had that many rookies playing in their first game together was Detroit in 1985. It has happened just two other times in the league since the 1979, with the Colorado Rockies and Vancouver Canucks in 1981.
Columbus is coming off consecutive postseason appearances for the first time in its 17-year history.
The Blue Jackets are in win-now mode , aiming to advance in the playoffs for the first time with goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and Panarin entering the last year of their contracts.
Columbus controlled the play and the puck for most of the night, looking like it was on the power play during even-strength positions at times.
The Blue Jackets enjoyed a big shot advantage for much of the game, too, but Howard prevented them from converting on a lot of chances to score.
Detroit was an NHL-worst 3-12 in overtime last season while Columbus was 9-3, trailing only Pittsburgh's rate of success in the 3-on-3 hockey.
UP NEXT:
Columbus: Hosts Carolina on Friday.
Detroit: At Los Angeles on Sunday.
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