The Columbus Blue Jackets hit the ice in Nationwide Arena on Saturday night to take on the woeful and tanking San Jose Sharks. Here’s how the the Jackets lined up:
Of note: rather than call up David Jiricek, the team moved Zach Werenski to the right side so he could partner with Ivan Provorov. Sure, whatever. Here’s what happened.
First Period
The Jackets opened the game on the attack, including Alex Nylander forcing a save from San Jose goaltender Magnus Chrona, but neither team found sustained success early.
The teams traded chances until late in the period when Johnny Gaudreau led a rush into the Sharks’ zone and found Boone Jenner streaking up the middle of the ice. His initial attempt was saved, but Jenner hammered the rebound through Chrona to open the scoring.
Columbus goal (1-0): Jenner from Gaudreau and Severson, 17:41
After 20, the Jackets held a narrow 1-0 advantage.
Second Period
It took just 49 seconds into the second for the Jackets to find the back of the net – Alex Nylander found himself with space in the slot and his shot beat Chrona under his arm to double the home team’s advantage.
Columbus goal (2-0): Nylander from Provorov, 0:49
Jake Christiansen took a penalty for cross checking, but the Jackets managed to kill it. Seconds after the kill, Kevin Labanc took penalty for goaltender interference, but the Sharks killed their penalty in turn. After some sustained offensive zone pressure, the Sharks found their first – Fabian Zetterlund knocked down an attempt in front of Daniil Tarasov and got the Sharks back into the game.
San Jose goal (2-1): Zetterlund from Ferraro and Granlund, 11:48
The Jackets got the goal back nearly right away – Boone Jenner won a battle below the goal and the puck found Johnny Gaudreau at the side of the net and he put it past Chrona to restore the two goal lead.
Columbus goal (3-1): Gaudreau from Nylander and Jenner, 15:03
With 22.5 seconds to go, Jake Bean took a horrible delay of game penalty, but the Jackets managed to escape the frame.
Third Period
The Sharks started the period with 1:38 of power play time, but the Jackets managed to kill it. The Sharks began to take control of chances, but the Jackets defense was equal to it through the first half of the period.
The Sharks clawed back within one just past the halfway mark of the third as the Sharks capitalized on a rush with Henry Thrun dropping to a knee to beat Tarasov.
San Jose goal (3-2): Thrun from Labanc, 11:42
With 3:25 to go, the Sharks hadn’t found a tying goal but had found their game, outshooting Columbus 14-3 in the third period. The Sharks pulled their goalie with two minutes to go and Columbus was able to put the game away as Alex Nylander scored his second of the night to put this one on ice.
Columbus goal (4-2): Nylander from Gaudreau, 18:55
Final
Columbus Blue Jackets 4 San Jose Sharks 2
Final Thoughts
Alex Nylander is the first player in CBJ history to score eight goals in his first 11 games with the club. Impressive stuff.
Daniil Tarasov’s shutout streak of 101:44 ended with the Zetterlund goal – the shutout streak was a new career high.
Some iffy play from Daniil Tarasov tonight at times, but he was equal to the task to earn the win in this one.
Johnny Gaudreau hit the 50 point mark with two points tonight.
Up Next
The Columbus Blue Jackets return to the ice tomorrow afternoon at Nationwide Arena to take on the Winnipeg Jets. Faceoff is set for 6:00 PM ET.