The Jackets started their Western Canada roadtrip with a detour in Chicago Sunday afternoon, and walked away with a 6-3 win. Neat!
First Period
JVR took an early tripping penalty, which the Blackhawks capitalized on. Ryan Donato collected a rebound in the slot, slid the puck to some kid named Connor Bedard, who reminded everyone why he was drafted 1st overall with a wicked wrister past Elvis.
BLACKHAWKS POWERPLAY GOAL – Connor Bedard from Ryan Donato and Alex Vlasic – 2:59 1st Period
The good news is that that was the last lead Chicago would have in the game. Just under 90 seconds later, Damon Severson pinched to keep the puck in, Sean Monahan collected it and crossed in front of Ivan Provorov at the top of the circle, and the former dropped it off to the latter before the big Russian D sniped it past Petr Mrazek.
BLUE JACKETS GOAL – Ivan Provorov from Sean Monahan and Damon Severson – 4:27 1st Period
Past the halfway point, Kent Johnson continued his incredible start to the season on an A-B-C-A play; Johnson picked off a pass in the neutral zone, came into the zone and flung it around the boards to Cole Sillinger, who went to Damon Severson at the point, back to Johnson, top shelf, back of the net. Beautiful hockey from that trio.
BLUE JACKETS GOAL – Kent Johnson from Damon Severson and Cole Sillinger – 11:23 1st Period
Second Period
Similar to the first, the Blackhawks would get a powerplay goal about three minutes in, after Dmitri Voronkov was deemed the instigator in a fight with Columbus native Connor Murphy and given *checks notes* 17 minutes?? Craig Smith tipped in a Taylor Hall point shot to briefly tie the game.
BLACKHAWKS POWERPLAY GOAL – Craig Smith from Taylor Hall and Alec Martinez – 3:00 2nd Period
Shortly thereafter, Elvis Merzlikins made a brilliant pad toe skate blade save on a 2-on-half, denying Lukas Reichel and keeping things tied.
Again similar to the first, the Blue Jackets would respond in under two minutes. Despite all five Blackhawks low in the zone, Sean Kuraly was able to find an open Sean Monahan in the slot, who turned and buried it. It’s a nice change of pace doing this to other teams instead of having them do it to us. This goal also increased Zach Werenski’s point streak to eight games, setting a new record for longest point streak by a defenseman in CBJ history.
BLUE JACKETS GOAL – Sean Monahan from Sean Kuraly and Zach Werenski – 4:50 2nd Period
Unlike the first, there’d be no more scoring in the back 3/4 of the frame, despite both teams getting another powerplay chance. Columbus would go to the 2nd intermission with a 23-21 shots on goal advantage and a 3-2 lead where it matters.
Third Period
During the Blue Jackets powerplay resulting from a Ryan Donato holding call, Petr Mrazek matched Elvis with beautiful glove save, denying Kent Johnson. It’d be for naught, however, as for the third period in a row, there was a goal three minutes in. This time, it was for the good guys, as Dante Fabbro sniped one from the right hash. Kevin Labanc had taken a hooking penalty seconds earlier to make this a 4-on-4 goal.
BLUE JACKETS GOAL – Dante Fabbro from Zach Werenski and Cole Sillinger – 3:08 3rd Period
Six and a half minutes into the frame, Kirill Marchenko and Cole Sillinger would get nabbed for penalties nine seconds apart, caught with delay of game and hooking infractions respectively. The Jackets killed 1:28 of the 5-on-3 before former captain Nick Foligno got one on his old club. Back to a one-goal game.
BLACKHAWKS 5-ON-3 POWERPLAY GOAL – Nick Foligno from Teuvo Teravainen and Connor Bedard – 8:08 3rd Period
The old Blue Jackets would’ve folded here, given up three straight to choke the game away as they tried to turtle through the 12 minutes remaining in the game. Not these Blue Jackets, though. After Voronkov muffed a 2-on-1 chance with Werenski at the backdoor, Marchenko would pick off the clearing attempt in the high slot and bury it into the far corner.
BLUE JACKETS GOAL – Kirill Marchenko, unassisted – 10:52 3rd Period
The teams would continue to go back and forth to end the game, with Voronkov getting some redemption on his missed backdoor chance. From his own slot. Jackets win, 6-3.
BLUE JACKETS EMPTY NET GOAL – Dmitri Voronkov from Damon Severson – 18:34 3rd Period
Shoutout to Damon Severson, getting three assists in this one. Aside from a lackluster penalty kill (three PPGs against versus the Blackhawks is… suboptimal), good start to the roadtrip! Already got double the points than the last one. Back at it Tuesday night in Calgary.