Blues net goal in final seconds of overtime

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Doug Weight scored with 8.7 seconds left in overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night.

Weight rammed in a pass from Pavol Demitra seconds after Keith Tkachuk leveled Columbus defenseman Darryl Sydor in open ice. When officials did not signal an obstruction call on Tkachuk, a crowd of 17,892 booed and threw cups on the ice.

Columbus coach Doug MacLean waved his arms and walked down to the boards to protest the non-call as the officials left the ice.

The Blue Jackets' Todd Marchant skated hard to the net on a rush and his shot was blocked by goaltender Brent Johnson before the puck was passed to Tkachuk, who then passed to Demitra to set up the game-winner.

Rick Nash scored his 19th goal midway through the third period as the Blue Jackets came back from a two-goal deficit. Andrew Cassels added his fourth goal.

Jamal Mayers and Tkachuk scored for the Blues, who are unbeaten in five games.

The Blues scored twice in a span of just over four minutes of the opening period.

Mayers jumped on a funny bounce off the boards, rifling a shot from the right dot that beat goaltender Fred Brathwaite. Christian LaFlamme and Jeff Heerema, just up from a stint in the minors to replace the injured Reed Low, assisted.

After Jody Shelley was sent to the penalty box for cross checking, it took the Blues less than a minute to score on the power play. Eric Nickulas dug the puck off the back wall and passed off the side of the net to Tkachuk, who easily punched in his 15th goal.

The two-goal lead was an overwhelming advantage for the Blues, who were 11-2-1 when scoring first and 10-2-1 when ahead after one period. Conversely, Columbus was 2-10-2-1 when giving up the first goal and 1-6-1 when trailing after one period.

The Blue Jackets pulled to 2-1 at 13:36 of the second. David Vyborny outbattled Chris Pronger for the puck in the corner, then controlled it and slid a pass to Geoff Sanderson for a one-timer from the high slot. Johnson slowed the puck but it trickled behind him and Cassels jabbed it into an empty net.

The Blue Jackets, 0-10-1-1 when trailing through two periods, pulled even on their fourth consecutive power play.

Nash netted a slap shot with 10:13 left in regulation. The overall No. 1 draft pick last year, scored 17 goals in 74 games last season and has 19 in 28 games this season. He came into the game tied with Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk for the NHL lead despite playing three fewer games.

Nash has goals in six of seven games and points in nine of 10 (9-2-11).

Notes: Columbus C Todd Marchant left in the overtime after a hard hit on the back boards. ... Tkachuk extended his points streak to five games (3 goals, 4 assists). ... Demitra has eight goals and 11 assists in 16 games against Columbus.