Avalanche 3, Blue Jackets 2 (OT)
Captain Gabriel Landeskog scored his second goal of the game and 26th of the season at 4:27 of overtime as visiting Colorado erased a two-goal, third-period deficit by scoring three times on deflections off Columbus players.
Brad Malone also tallied for the Avalanche, who moved three points ahead of Chicago for second place in the Central Division and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Semyon Varlamov made 24 saves, including a point-blank stop on Blake Comeau with 38 seconds left in regulation.
Cam Atkinson registered his 20th goal and Comeau also scored for the Blue Jackets, who lead Toronto by one point for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 stops in the showdown with Russian Olympic teammate Varlamov.
Malone's centering pass from below the end line in the corner caromed off Columbus' Nick Foligno and past Bobrovsky with 10:14 remaining. Rookie Nathan MacKinnon centered a pass to Landeskog, whose shot bounced off Blue Jackets defenseman Dalton Prout and past Bobrovsky with 4:57 left, and Landeskog's cross-crease pass attempt went in off Columbus defenseman Jack Johnson's skate.
Brandon Dubinsky collected Colorado blue-liner Nate Guenin's turnover behind the net and fed Atkinson, who beat Varlamov from the slot at 10:52 of the second period. Columbus took a 2-0 lead 5:07 later, when Foligno finished a quick-developing 2-on-0 rush by feeding an open Comeau on the doorstep after Guenin couldn't control the puck inside his blue line.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Avalanche C Matt Duchene (team-high 70 points) missed his first game with a knee injury that is expected to keep him out of the lineup four weeks. ... The Blue Jackets outhit the Avalanche 52-31, registering 27 in the first 20 minutes - the most by a team in a period this season. Dubinsky and Foligno recorded five of their game-high seven hits in the opening session. ... Landeskog has five goals and seven points in his last four games.