Ducks fall to the Blue Jackets in overtime, 3-2

He had to wait a month, but Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle finally got a look Wednesday at the roster with which he had hoped to start the season.

It wasn’t exactly what he had hoped to see, with Zach Werenski’s goal 1:21 into overtime lifting the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 3-2 victory, ending the Ducks’ two-game winning streak.

The final piece of the puzzle, defenseman Hampus Lindholm, made his season debut against the Blue Jackets after missing the first 13 games in a contract dispute. That absence was extended another two weeks when Lindholm had trouble securing a visa from his native Sweden.

But his return made the Ducks complete — if not necessarily successful.

“We kind of have the same group as last year,” Lindholm said. “We have a good team. We just have to play the right way and keep going in the right direction.

“Just take it step by step and not try to force it.”

In his first NHL game since April, Lindholm skated more than 18 minutes over 22 shifts. That came eight days after center Rickard Rakell, another Swede, returned to the ice after his own protracted contract negotiations were resolved.

Rakell has quickly made up for lost time, with his second-period goal Wednesday giving him four goals in five games, four of which ended with the Ducks getting a point. Now Carlyle hopes Lindholm can have the same kind of impact.

“We have some new faces in our lineup and we’re in the infancy of having our group together,” the coach said. “I don’t know that we’re a cohesive unit. We didn’t look like that for the first five minutes.

“But then we started to play our game. Any time you’re down 2-0 on the road and come back and get a point, you’ve done something.”

Columbus waited just 83 seconds to spoil the Ducks’ reunion, with Boone Jenner sweeping in the rebound of a Scott Hartnell shot for his first goal of the season. The Blue Jackets doubled their lead four minutes later when Brandon Saad beat goalie John Gibson with a one-timer from the edge of the right faceoff circle.

That gave Columbus two goals before the Ducks had their first shot.

Rakell pulled one of those back less than three minutes before the second intermission when his shot from in front of the boards on the left wing trickled between Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and the near post. The Ducks then tied it 1:25 into the final period when Bobrovsky got momentarily hung up behind the net and Nick Ritchie took advantage, crashing the crease to score his third goal of the season and set up the overtime.

The Ducks couldn‘t close the deal in the extra period, but Rakell said he’s just happy all the off-ice issues have been sorted out, clearing he and Lindholm to concentrate on the game.

“You’re just at home. You just want to play hockey,” Rakell said of his return. “This is the team we’re going to have. This is the time to find good chemistry. We’re off to a better start than last year.”

DUCKS UP NEXT

AT CAROLINA

When: 4 p.m. PST Thursday.

On the air: TV: Prime; Radio: 830.

Update: The Ducks meet the Hurricanes for the first time this season in the middle game of a three-game, four-day trip. Anaheim has lost only once in Carolina — in overtime — since 2010. Center Michael Sgarbossa rejoined the Ducks from their San Diego affiliate in the American Hockey League but was a healthy scratch Wednesday against Columbus.