The Columbus Blue Jackets came home to Nationwide Arena for the second half of their back to back tonight against the San Jose Sharks, with a new center in tow. The Blue Jackets traded for Matt Duchene, former Ottawa Senator, and then defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-0. Duchene immediately slotted into the first line between Artemi Panarin and Cam Atkinson, where he played 19:11 and won 53% of his faceoffs for his new club.
The Sharks came in on the heels of a 4-0 demolition of the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday night, having firmly inserted themselves into the race for the Western Conference first seed. This is not the inconsistent Sharks team that Columbus saw in the first matchup in November – they have settled and have taken off of late.
Here’s what happened.
First Period
The first period opened with a back and forth affair before Boone Jenner broke open the scoring at the nine minute mark.
BOOOOONE finishes a beautiful pass from Anderson and it’s 1-0 #CBJ! pic.twitter.com/LQiHeZoB2i
— The Cannon (@cbjcannon) February 23, 2019
Second Period
Early in the second, Matt Duchene opened his Blue Jackets account with a greasy goal to give the home team a 2-0 lead.
Matt Duchene scores his first goal as a member of the #CBJ and it’s 2-0 good guys! pic.twitter.com/w4QNsrUFka
— The Cannon (@cbjcannon) February 23, 2019
With 6.9 nice seconds remaining in the period, Cam Atkinson buried the Sharks 3-0.
Cam Atkinson cleans up in front to make it 3-0 in the dying seconds of the second period. Good time to be a #CBJ fan, eh? pic.twitter.com/4DGrQPAvkS
— The Cannon (@cbjcannon) February 23, 2019
Third Period
With no Erik Karlsson available for the Sharks, Pierre-Luc Dubois iced the game.
Martin Jones lets in a howler on Pierre-Luc Dubois and it’s 4-0 #CBJ. When you’re hot, you’re hot: pic.twitter.com/37BGXzIZx5
— The Cannon (@cbjcannon) February 24, 2019
Final
San Jose Sharks 0 Columbus Blue Jackets 4
Oh, and we traded for Ryan Dzingel. How about that.