The Blue Jackets were victorious tonight in a game that was much closer than it needed to be. They jumped out to a four goal lead early in the second period and nearly coughed it up the rest of the way.
Th defense looked good at times especially early on which was a positive, but the inability to survive opponent pushback is a bit concerning, but until the games count I’ll give them a pass. Zach Werenski appears to still be shaking the rust off after missing nearly a year, but the new guys Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson look to be solid additions. I really like Provorov’s ability down low in the offensive zone. I’m sure he’ll get burned on more than one occasion this year, but I’d be lying if its not an exciting element on the backend.
Another player who really stood out was Alexandre Texier. I think we’ll see him playing pretty high in the lineup this year. But as we have seen in the past, he’s the the type of player who can have success playing anywhere in the lineup.
Patrik Laine was at center tonight with Kirill Marchenko and Johnny Gaudreau. The line was easily the best on the ice, and Laine didn’t look out of place very often. I’m honestly surprised the “experiment” is going on this late in camp. I still don’t hate it though.
Here’s how it went down…
First Period
From the drop of the puck, it was Columbus controlling possession and generating chances. In the opening minutes the Jackets generated the first 5 shots. It took five minutes for St. Louis to generate their first scoring task, forcing Jet Greaves to make a tough stop.
Boone Jenner scored just moments later at the other end, beating Joel Hofer with a shot that really had no business going in. At first glance it look like he simply put the puck through the Blues goaltender since he had practically zero open net. It was a nice give and go with Alexandre Texier that created the scoring chance.
1-0 CBJ (Jenner from Texier)
Ten more minutes went by (in which the Jackets dominated puck possession) before the Jackets added another goal. This time is was Kirill Marchenko scoring his first of the preseason, scoring off a broken play. He and Patrik Laine were having their own give and go sequence when his cross-crease pass was broken up by Blues defenseman, Justin Faulk, only to have the puck settle near the goal line. Marchenko just needed to get his stick in there and tap it in.
2-0 CBJ (Marchenko from Laine)
The fans in attendance didn’t have to wait long for their chili tonight, because Justin Danforth scored the third goal of the night not long after the Danforth goal. The play was made possible by big Dmitri Voronkov’s tenacious puck pursuit. An offensive zone faceoff loss by Danforth saw the puck go behind the St. Louis net, and reading the play nicely, Voronkov used his size and strength to steal the puck down low and find Danforth in the slot. Danforth scored high glove side on Hofer giving the Jackets their three goal lead.
3-0 CBJ (Danforth from Voronkov)
Alexandre Texier committed a slashing penalty in the dying seconds of the period that would mostly carry over to the second period.
Second Period
The Blue Jackets penalty killers started the second period and were stout, not allowing much of anything. The Penalty Killing units consisted of Roslovic, Jenner, Provorov and Severson on the top unit and then Kuraly, Danforth, Jiricek and Blankenburg on the second.
The Jackets got their first crack at the power play just after the Texier penalty expired. The Jackets first power play unit was unable to generate much of anything at all, actually allowing a quality shorthanded chance against. It was the second unit that broke through, culminating in a Cole Sillinger goal. Provorov sent a pass to Severson down below the hashmarks who then found Cole Sillinger all alone in front, where he quickly beat Hofer five hole.
4-0 CBJ ( Sillinger from Severson and Provorov)
Jet Greaves wasn’t called upon much in the first half of the game but on the rare occasion he needed to make a save he was there to do so. About the ten minute mark of the period he made his best saves of the night, denying a pair of back-to-back shots including a sprawling save to keep out a rebound chance.
This began the first real sustained pressure for St. Louis of the night and they didn’t waste it. Jakub Vrana finally found the back of the net beating Greaves after a cross zone pass.
4-1 CBJ (Vrana from Hayes and Perunovich)
St. Louis had found their footing and kept their foot on the gas really testing the Blue Jackets defense. Their pressure in the offensive zone forced a penalty giving St. Louis the chance they needed to get back into the game, and it only took seconds into their man advantage for them to cut the lead in half.
Sammy Blais scored just moments into the power play beating Greaves in a one-on-one situation that saw David Jiricek taking away the cross crease pass allowing the clean look.
4-2 CBJ (Blais from Kapanen and Vrana)
It was starting to become reminiscent of the Buffalo game when the Jackets couldn’t stay out of the box. For the teams’ confidence, they really needed to not implode again.
Not long at all after the Blues’ second goal, Tim Berni was sent off for a trip putting the now confident Blues back on the power play. This time the penalty killers were able to kill off the infraction and keep St. Louis down a pair.
The second period was a complete 180 of the first in which the Jackets dominated. It looked as if the Blue Jackets would be able to coast to an easy victory after the Sillinger goal. But after two periods, the lead appeared to be in jeopardy and it was fair to wonder if this team could lock down a lead in the third.
Third Period
Of course, the Blue Jackets were not going to make it easy for themselves. A Damon Severson penalty early in the period quickly resulted in a goal, bringing the Blues to within a goal with most of the period left to play.
A power play opportunity almost five minutes in looked decent, and despite a few quality looks, produced nothing. The Jackets were going to have to hang on to a nailbiter. Well as much of a nailbiter as a preseason game can be. To their credit, after allowing three unanswered goals the team did settle down and had success salting the game away, not allowing much to St. Louis. The strong defensive play had returned for a stretch when it was needed most.
There were some hairy moments down the stretch but Greaves came up big when needed, and Johnny Gaudreau put the game on ice with a 150 foot shot into the empty net.
Final 5-3 CBJ (Gaudreau from Provorov)