NHL Blue Jackets break tie in sudden death

The Columbus-Minnesota rivals will meet again tonight.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Trevor Letowski scored in the fifth sudden-death shootout round -- the NHL's longest tiebreaker this season -- to give Martin Prusek and the Columbus Blue Jackets a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild Friday night.
Adam Foote scored in the final minute of regulation to force overtime -- his second pivotal, late goal in as many games.
Columbus had four quality shots in the overtime, extending their franchise record to 53 shots for the game. The Blue Jackets also put a record 24 shots on goal in the third period, with Minnesota goaltender Dwayne Roloson stopping 23.
In the three-skater shootout, Todd White gave the Wild the upper hand only to have Mark Hartigan, called up from Syracuse of the AHL last week, score on the Blue Jackets' final chance. That forced sudden death in the NHL's brand new tiebreaker format.
Prusek, who had 31 saves through overtime, and Roloson, who had 52, continually made outstanding stops as the tension mounted. After Prusek stopped five straight shooters and Roloson turned away four, Letowski swooped in and beat Roloson high on the stick side to touch off a wild celebration at mid-ice.
Columbus was coming off one of its biggest wins in recent memory, beating Nashville 3-2 Wednesday night on Foote's short-handed goal 35 seconds into overtime that ruined the Predators perfect start (8-0-0).
Overcoming
Trailing the Wild 1-0, the Blue Jackets finally broke through after pulling Prusek for an extra skater. After Columbus won a faceoff in the offensive zone, Bryan Berard tried a long slap shot that Roloson stopped in heavy traffic. Foote ended up all alone with the puck in the high slot and scored.
The Wild caught Columbus defenseman Berard pinching up in the offensive zone and broke out to a 2-on-1 with Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Randy Robitaille. Bouchard took a return pass from Robitaille and had an open net at the right post at 5:15 of the second period.
It was Bouchard's fifth goal of the season and gave him points in his last three games and nine of 11.
The rivals, who entered the league together in 2000, meet again tonight in Minnesota.
Columbus appeared to score in the second period when Jason Chimera rushed the net for a shot, the puck popping up in the air and resting momentarily on Roloson's shoulder. Chimera's momentum carried him into Roloson, with the puck falling into the net.
But officials ruled that Chimera hit the goaltender the same time the puck went in and waved off the goal.
Both Roloson and Prusek -- now 2-0 this season after taking over for Marc Denis -- were outstanding throughout, making big saves on numerous scoring chances.