After three excellent games on the California swing of their roadtrip resulted in a whopping one (1) point in the standings, the Columbus Blue Jackets looked to get back into the win column against the Seattle Kraken. Here’s how it went down.
First Period
The Jackets came out absolutely buzzing, and didn’t really stop all period. They consistently controlled the puck and pace of play, and great defense kept Seattle from recording a shot on goal for the first eight minutes of the game. Jack Johnson had a wide open net early that went off a crossbar, and Yegor Chinakhov had a dangerous 2-on-1 chance broken up by Jamie Oleksiak.
A over halfway through the period, the Blue Jackets finally got rewarded for their hard work in a big way, thanks to the fourth line. Zach Aston-Reese flung a puck on-net that Sean Kuraly was able to tap in off the rebound, and 22 seconds later, Kuraly returned the favor by forcing a rebound and finding ZAR netfront.
BLUE JACKETS GOAL – Sean Kuraly from Zach Aston-Reese and Kevin Labanc – 13:46 1st Period
BLUE JACKETS GOAL – Zach Aston-Reese from Sean Kuraly and Kevin Labanc – 14:08 1st Period
Seattle opted to use their timeout after the second goal, which seemed to help calm things a bit, but they didn’t generate any chances Elvis Merzlikins couldn’t easily handle. Columbus would carry their 2-0 advantage into the intermission, along with a whopping 18-6 lead in shots on goal and 31-13 lead in shot attempts.
Second Period
After one of the best periods of hockey in this young season, the Jackets followed it up with one of the very worst. Seattle dominated from the getgo, and was abundantly rewarded. Light netfront coverage gave Tye Kartye too much time in front of Elvis, which was the start of a no-good-very-bad stretch of CBJ hockey.
KRAKEN GOAL – Tye Kartye from Andrei Burakovsky and Yanni Gourde – 2:50 2nd Period
The Kraken continued their strangling of the Jackets, emphasized by a whopping two-minute shift in the Columbus zone that the Monahan line was barely able to escape. Yet shortly after, Brandon Tanev was allowed to walk down the middle of the ice, and beat Merzlikins as he moved left-to-right in the mid-slot. After Labanc took an interference penalty off the center-ice draw, Eeli Tolvanen gave Seattle the lead just six seconds into the powerplay.
KRAKEN GOAL – Brandon Tanev, unassisted – 7:13 2nd Period
KRAKEN POWERPLAY GOAL – Eeli Tolvanen from Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann – 7:23 2nd Period
After a much-needed reset during the commercial break, things seemed to settle down for a bit. While the Kraken were still the better team, they weren’t as dominant. Justin Danforth had a good opportunity on a netfront scramble, but couldn’t get his stick on the puck. Eventually, a Damon Severson pinch combined with some horrific defensive positioning from Ivan Provorov to allow our old friend Oliver Bjorkstrand find a wide open Will Borgen, who buried the puck past Elvis.
KRAKEN GOAL – Will Borgen from Oliver Bjorkstrand and Justin Schwartz – 13:34 2nd Period
Right after the 4-2 goal, Andrei Burakovsky was gifted a huge breakaway opportunity, almost making it 5-2. A sprawling Merzlikins kept the puck out of the net. The teams traded penalties late in the frame, but neither converted. The game had completely flipped on its head, with Seattle now entering intermission with a two goal lead and immeasurable momentum.
Third Period
To be honest, the third period was more or less a footnote to the first two. Waiver pickup Dante Fabbro (who I thought had a decent enough game) got nabbed for roughing 2:53 into the frame, but the Jackets were able to kill it off. The CBJ ended up getting 14 shots on goal this period trying to break even, but Seattle held their own, got some opportunities themselves, and crucially kept Columbus from pulling the goalie for over two minutes. Once Elvis was finally pulled with 1:40 to go, Jared McCann was able to hit the empty net from half ice to seal it.
KRAKEN EMPTY NET GOAL – Jared McCann from Jordan Eberle – 18:42 3rd Period
This game has really been emblematic of the Blue Jackets over the first stretch of the season. Through the first nine games, they were playing an exciting, high-scoring brand of hockey. While that didn’t always get them wins, they were putting forward an entertaining product. Now, the team shooting percentage was approaching 15% there, which was never going to be sustainable, but they had momentum.
But that contrasts with the past six games, where they’ve gotten their asses kicked twice, then played admirably for three-and-a-third games but were unable to finish, before getting their ass kicked again in the second period tonight. Two things need to improve: Consistency and Scoring. You aren’t going to win much in the NHL in 2024 scoring two goals a night (unless you’re the Islanders). I get that 15% isn’t sustainable, but the Jackets are shooting at 4.5% in their last four. Reality is likely somewhere in the middle. And with the current talent level of this team, you need to not have critical system failures multiple times a game. We were able to outscore Colorado, Toronto, and Edmonton somehow, but track meets cannot be the expectation.
How does Dean Evason and the Blue Jackets fix all that? No clue, but they’ve got two days before they play the Penguins Friday at Nationwide. See you all then.