Troy Brouwer’s shootout goal propels Blackhawks to 5-4 victory over Blue Jackets

Brouwer lifts Blackhawks over Blue Jackets in SO

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Troy Brouwer scored in the fourth round of the shootout to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 5-4 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday night, sending the NHL into its Olympic break with a flourish.

Each team came back from — and blew — a two-goal deficit in regulation.

Jake Dowell and Patrick Sharp each had a goal an assist, and Bryan Bickell also had a goal for the Blackhawks, who won their fourth in a row. Patrick Kane, who bounced back to also score in the shootout after injuring a knee in the third period, had Chicago’s first goal. Jonathan Toews added two assists.

Kristian Huselius had a goal and an assist and scored in the shootout for Columbus, which dropped its second straight. Raffi Torres, Rick Nash and Fedor Tyutin added goals.

Kane’s goal in the second round of the shootout was matched by Huselius in the third round. After Antoine Vermette failed to score for the Blue Jackets, Brouwer’s forehand shot went high over goaltender Mathieu Garon on the stick side for the clincher.

Down 4-3 heading into a wild, chippy, end-to-end third period, the Blue Jackets pulled even on the second of a double-minor penalty assessed to Brouwer. Brouwer jumped to the defense of Kane, a U.S. Olympian, after Kane was leveled on a hip check by Columbus defenseman Anton Stralman that resulted in Kane and Stralman’s right knees slamming into each other. While Kane lay on the ice, Brouwer instigated a fight with Stralman.

Tyutin’s hard, rising slap shot from the left point on the power play went off the leg of Chicago defenseman Kim Johnsson for the tying score at 7:58.

The teams traded scoring opportunities and punches the rest of third period. Sharp and Torres fought late in regulation, then Dustin Byfuglien had a dust-up with a couple of Blue Jackets, including goaltender Garon after the Blackhawk jabbed at a puck in Garon’s glove.

Columbus killed a roughing penalty late in regulation and overtime resulting from Torres’ fight with Sharp.

The game will undoubtedly be fodder for discussion on the flight shared by Nash and Chicago’s Toews, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith. The Team Canada members flew out of Columbus after the game to make it to the Olympic site in Vancouver.

Down 2-0 early on goals by Huselius and Torres, the Blackhawks scored the next four goals.

With just over 5 seconds left in the first period, the Blackhawks cut the deficit in half when Keith outbattled Nash for the puck at center ice and then carried it into the offensive zone. He dropped a pass to Toews, who fed Kane for a hard shot from the left dot that sliced inside the far post. The power-play goal was Kane’s 25th of the year.

Bickell picked up his second goal of the season and fourth of his career to tie it early in the second from all alone at the doorstep.

The Blackhawks then scored twice in less than two minutes. Dowell ended up with the puck after two deflected passes and picked up his first goal of the season from low in the left circle.

No sooner was that announced than Toews beat the Blue Jackets’ R.J. Umberger to a loose puck in the right corner, then skated along the goal line before feeding Sharp as he crashed the net.

That all but silenced a capacity crowd of 17,673. The fans did revive a bit later in the second period when, on the power play, goalie Antti Niemi gave up a rebound on Huselius’ hard shot and Nash slammed the rebound into the net for his 28th goal to cut the lead to 4-3.

NOTES: Niemi had 24 saves, Garon 33. … Columbus has scored the first goal in its last seven games. … Each team has six Olympians. … The Blue Jackets dropped to 3-1-1 under interim coach Claude Noel. … The Blackhawks won the season series outright for the first time since 2002-03.