ANAHEIM, Calif. — NHL overtime, with one less skater per team and, thus, bountiful room on the ice, was made for Blue Jackets center Derick Brassard.

Brassard carried the puck the length of the ice last night after forcing a turnover in his own zone, then scored on a slap shot from high in the left faceoff circle to give the Blue Jackets a 3-2 overtime win over the Anaheim Ducks before 13,358 at the Honda Center.

It was Brassard’s second goal of the game and snapped the Blue Jackets’ six-game losing streak.

Jeff Carter, returning to the lineup after a 10-game absence because of a shoulder injury, scored the Blue Jackets’ other goal. Goaltender Curtis Sanford finished with 33 saves.

The Blue Jackets hadn’t had a lead for 337 minutes, 52 seconds before Brassard’s goal in OT, and the rest of the club raced off the bench to mob him in the corner.

The Ducks will look back on this game with regret. They had chances earlier in the game, especially the second period, to take control, but never did.

The Blue Jackets, meanwhile, seemed to gain confidence as the night moved along.

It was a thrilling end to a rough trip. On Tuesday, the Blue Jackets were blown away 6-0 at San Jose. On Wednesday, they lost 3-2 at Los Angeles, thanks to an error with the arena clock.

Anaheim took a 1-0 lead only 1:46 into the game when a shot by Ducks defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky appeared to catch Sanford by surprise. He made the initial stop, but the puck trickled through his pads.

Teemu Selanne dived ahead of Jackets center Sammy Pahlsson to poke it home.

Sanford was sterling the rest of the night. Between his play in net and the Blue Jackets’ use of their sticks to disrupt the Ducks’ passing and shooting lanes, it prevented Anaheim from taking a bigger lead early.

The Blue Jackets were fortunate they didn’t collapse under the weight of their own penalties — five straight minor penalties — in the second period. The Jackets have the worst penalty kill in the league — both overall and on the road — but they killed four of the five to stay close.

Brassard scored at 14:47 of the second to make it 1-1. John Moore’s shot into a traffic jam in front of the net was swatted off-balance across the slot by Rick Nash, leaving Brassard to finish the easy goal.

The Ducks made it 2-1 just two minutes later on Selanne’s second goal, a one-timer from just inside the left dot off a feed from Corey Perry.

The Jackets answered early in the third with Carter’s power-play goal. It was set up by a behind-the-back feed into the zone by Antoine Vermette, who has tried such a pass many times this season. This time it worked.

Carter backhanded the puck into the net before Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller could hurry back into position.

The Blue Jackets, whose blue line has been riddled by injuries all season, played the final two periods with only five defensemen.

Brett Lebda, who joined Fedor Tyutin on the No. 1 pair just before the All-Star break, suffered an injured hand late in the first period and did not return to the game.

He will be evaluated today or Sunday when the Jackets return to Columbus.

aportzline@dispatch.com