The Columbus Blue Jackets faced their former goaltender, Spencer Martin, and the Carolina Hurricanes after a tough loss in Madison Square Garden. Texier returned to the lineup after the unfortunate news of Johnson’s injury. Here’s what happened.
1st Period
The best Blue Jacket scoring attempt of the early going came from the Sillinger line, picking up where they had left off one night previous in New York.
Both goalies were forced to make point-blank saves. At one point, Tarasov got caught out of position and made a sliding save to keep the puck out of the net.
There was quite a bit of fast-paced back and forth with little stoppage. The first TV timeout didn’t come until 13:08 had elapsed in the first period.
A weird bounce off the boards left two Carolina players right in front of Tarasov with the puck. A desperation trip by Severson possibly saved a goal but also gave the Canes their first power play of the night. The Jackets were able to kill it off.
The Canes pushed hard in the last few minutes of the period, but the horn sounded with all goose eggs on the scoreboard. Although the eye test would say it was an even period for both sides, Carolina ended with the 5v5 advantage across the board.
2nd Period
Carolina scored within a minute of the initial second period puck drop. A loose puck was gloved ahead by Severson, but right to Teravainen. Teravainen quickly gathered and no-looked the puck past Tarasov.
CAR Goal 1-0: Teravainen (unassisted) 0:53
A minute later, the Canes scored again when Peeke provided a convenient screen in front of Tarasov. Fortunately, the goal was overturned after an offsides challenge by Vincent.
It remained all Carolina. It officially became 2-0 when Aho skated the puck from behind the net and fired a shot from beyond the faceoff dot. The puck deflected off of Peeke’s skate and past Tarasov.
CAR Goal 2-0: Aho (Skjei) 8:19
The Jackets got one back less than two minutes later. Nylander started a breakout with a quick pass out of the defensive zone to Werenski, who then passed to Sillinger on the wing. Sillinger ripped a shot under Martin’s blocker for the goal. Nylander earned the second assist for his first point as a Blue Jacket.
CBJ Goal 2-1: Sillinger (Werenski, Nylander) 9:56
An opportunity to tie the game came when Texier drew a hold to give the Jackets their first power play. The first unit had two decent chances but ultimately came up short.
Then, after the power play expired, the Canes regained a two-goal lead. Skjei took the puck to the net by himself, held off Provorov with one hand, and poked the puck through Tarasov’s legs. Provorov really needs to be able to bully his opponent off the puck there.
CAR Goal 3-1: Skjei (Kotkaniemi, Burns) 16:30
Sillinger had an incredible shift with time winding down in the period. He danced around several Canes, fired off a high-danger shot, got the puck back, and tried to feed the slot from behind the net. It’s really too bad a goal wasn’t the result of his effort.
Columbus actually led in expected goals in all situations, 1.62-1.09, after 40 minutes. The top two lines of the Blue Jackets were struggling, however. The Sillinger and Kuraly lines were keeping the Jackets in the game offensively.
3rd Period
Tarasov was forced to make several big saves, including a twisting save where the puck was rolling on his back after going off the crossbar, to start the third period. The Canes got off 5 quick shots in just 90 seconds.
The home team got another penalty when Jenner was tripped up when exiting the defensive zone. Then, Alex Nylander, who was filling in for Kent Johnson on the first unit, got his first goal as a Blue Jacket when he took a shot from the point in front of a Gaudreau screen.
CBJ PP Goal 3-2: Nylander (Roslovic, Jenner) 8:39
Severson and Bunting scrapped behind the play to earn offsetting roughings. Carolina owned the 4-on-4 before Marchenko missed a prime chance after dangling around a Canes defender.
Tarasov was pulled with 3:37 left to give the Jackets a 6-on-5. The Jackets managed their best 6-on-5 sustained attack of the season. But ultimately, Carolina scored the empty netter with 14 seconds left.
CAR EN Goal 4-2: Jarvis (Martinook) 19:45
Team Leaders
Goals: Sillinger, Nylander (1)
Points: Nylander (1-1-2)
5v5 xGF: Danforth (79.06)
5v5 CF%: Texier (56.25)
Shots: Jenner, Sillinger (3)
Shot attempts: Sillinger (8)
Final Thoughts
There were two different Blue Jackets teams on the ice in this game. The first was the good team led by the Sillinger and Kuraly lines. Then there was the bad team led by the Jenner and Voronkov lines, Gudbranson, and Peeke. The former scored goals and played well. The latter got scored on and caved in possession-wise.
Tarasov had a rough second period but then made a few key saves in the third period to keep the Jackets in the game. We’ve rarely seen a solid 60-minute performance from Tarasov this season, and it would have helped tremendously in this game.
Sillinger is hot and has played very well for two games in a row now. The best part of his play tonight was the fact that he was able to get a line going despite the top two scoring lines struggling.
Up Next
The Blue Jackets will head to Chicago to take on the Blackhawks on Saturday at 8:00 PM ET.