It was the annual Hockey Fights Cancer night and there was a special treat as three young women who have performed the anthem before sang together before the game. No, YOU’RE crying.
On the hockey side, Kent Johnson returned to the lineup after missing five weeks with a shoulder injury.
First Period
To say the Columbus Blue Jackets started off on the wrong foot is an understatement. Ivan Provorov hooked Jake Guentzel and the Tampa Bay Lightning made him pay for it. The Jackets’ penalty kill was in good formation, but Brayden Point was positioned well in the middle of them and made a good shot through the traffic. The assist earned Nikita Kucherov his 900th career point.
When it rains it pours. The Jackets got a zone clear, but didn’t dump the puck deep enough before changing. This gave Tampa the puck with a numbers advantage as they entered the zone. Kucherov got the puck in the slot but instead of shooting he dished to Brandon Hagel, who banked a shot off of Elvis Merzlikins’ pads.
At this point it felt like the better team was making highly skilled plays. The Jackets had no immediate response, and didn’t even get a shot on goal until nearly seven minutes into the game.
After getting good bounces against Boston, the bad bounces returned and the Lightning took a 3-0 lead thanks to a clearing attempt that hit a lineman and stayed in the zone. There was another shot through traffic and our old friend Cam Atkinson was there to deflect it in.
A TV timeout came at just the right time for the Jackets to catch their breath and calm down. They got a good bounce of their own as Damon Severson fired a shot that ricocheted off of the boards right to Sean Monahan. Congrats to Sevo on his 300th point!
Second Period
How would the Jackets respond would they come out with more energy?
Yes! On the first shift, Sean Monahan made a pass through the neutral zone to Dmitri Voronkov, who had slipped behind the defense. He gathered the puck and sniped it past Jonas Johansson to bring the Jackets within a goal.
On the next shift, Yegor Chinakhov drew a penalty against JJ Moser for hooking. The first power play unit featured the Monahan line plus Zach Werenski and Kent Johnson. The PP definitely needed KJ’s skill back. He delivered as he scored on a beautiful one-timer from the right circle.
Look at the puck movement there! I thought that either of Marchenko or Werenski could have shot, but the passes were smart and it got the defense and goalie’s attention away from Johnson.
Unfortunately the tied game wouldn’t stand for long. Just 16 seconds later, Mitchell Chaffee deflected a rebound off of a shot by Connor Geekie.
Who would you expect to tie it up a minute and a half later? That’s right.
But that’s not all! The Blue Jackets found a way to take the lead less than two minutes after that. Cole Sillinger made a great saucer pass (or “sausage” as Chinakhov referred to it back on the bench, per Sillinger in a postgame interview). Chinakhov kept this shot low and through Johannsson’s five hole.
The lead was short-lived, as Tampa again responded in less than a minute. On the rush, Mathieu Olivier fell while defending Anthony Cirelli at the blue line. Kucherov got the loose puck, passed to Hegel, who found Cirelli again. Dante Fabbro hit the deck to prevent a Hegel shot, but Werenski was caught in no-man’s land between Cirelli and Kucherov.
For those keeping track at home, that was six combined goals in the first 6:18 of the second period. Comment of the night from elpalito:
“this is the kind of game that I’ll completely ignore from a continuity perspective. This game is non-canon fanfiction for people who like high scoring games. I feel for stiner.”
Things quieted down after that but the Jackets had a huge flurry of shots in the final minute.
Third Period
The Jackets controlled play for the first half of the period, until Sean Kuraly was called for holding Victor Hedman (I thought it was a soft call, since they were both tied up while pursuing a loose puck).
Just like at the start of the season, Dean Evason gave Kent Johnson the opportunity to kill penalties. Here we see why. The clip doesn’t include it, but Johnson is the one who steals the puck in the defensive zone and starts moving it down ice to Monahan. Monahan passed to Werenski, who then set up Johnson for the goal. Great passes, great shot.
Alas, the Lightning found a way to respond again. They still had the man advantage on the power play. Gage Goncalves sent another shot into traffic, and Geekie was in the place to deflect it. Elvis was visibly upset at himself after the goal, but that’s a tough one to stop.
The final minutes of regulation saw another intense push from the Jackets, but they were unable to get the winner.
Overtime
Once again Evason turned to Kent Johnson, and sent him out for the opening faceoff with Monahan and Werenski. Since Kucherov and Point were not on the ice for the first shift, Evason had Werenski come off and sent Provorov out shortly after the faceoff.
After a Lightning chance, KJ made a nice long pass to Provorov to get the puck back in the Tampa end. The Jackets changed lines, with Sillinger and Justin Danforth coming out, and Werenski coming back. Sillinger dished to Werenski at the top of the zone, and with Danforth pulling some attention to the side, Werenski declined to pass and instead sniped it from mid-range past Johansson to end the game.
Final Thoughts
The social media admin is a stone cold killer
Zach Werenski earned the first star thanks to a five point night. He’s having such a good season and it may end up being his best yet. It’s not just that this system plays to his strengths, but he also seems to thrive in a leadership role with Boone Jenner on the shelf. He wants to have the puck in that clutch moment, and he’ll give everything he has to get the win. Tonight he passed David Vyborny to move up to 5th place on the Blue Jackets franchise points list. At this rate, he may be able to pass Nick Foligno by the time the calendar turns over.
In his first game back, Kent Johnson showed no signs of rust. He only had two shots on goal, but both were goals. He showed the same speed and assertive play all over the ice. He was setting up his teammates for plays. It helps the offense so much to have him back. He gives the Jackets a second dangerous line for teams to defend. Adam Fantilli looked a lot better tonight as well, and I think we can credit Johnson for that. Their games complement each other nicely.
Scoring 7 goals is good. Needing all 7 to win is not. I’m sure Elvis isn’t happy with his night, though it’s hard to blame too many of the goals on him. Tampa didn’t get many quality looks, but they capitalized on the chances they got. All of their goals were from high danger areas, and many of those were off of passes or deflections. That’s hard on any goalie. Hopefully next time Elvis can stop a couple of those.
Sean Monahan quietly had four points, a +3 rating, and took the team lead in goals with 7. Four players have 6 on the season: Marchenko, Chinakhov, Werenski, and Olivier.
Up Next
The homestand continues on Saturday night against the division-leading Carolina Hurricanes. Can the Jackets get their first three-game win streak of the season?