We’re into the final month of the season, and the Blue Jackets were looking to avoid any April Fools shenanigans and bounce back with a win over the Nashville Predators. Here’s how it went down.
First Period
Your friendly neighborhood freelance writer was late getting home, and before I could even get the game on, it was 1-0. Zach Werenski helped dig the puck out of Nashville’s corner, and found Kirill Marchenko open in the slot. The Bubble-Wearing Russian made no mistake.
BLUE JACKETS GOAL – Kirill Marchenko from Zach Werenski – 1:15 1st Period
The Jackets started the game with some great pressure, though Nashville was able to get some rush chances. However, as the period continued, momentum seemed to swing in the Preds’ favor. The middle five was pretty uneventful, before Nashville had a great shift with about six minutes to go, keeping the Zach Aston-Reese/Sean Kuraly/Luke Kunin line in the defensive zone for over a minute. Elvis Merzlikins stayed strong, however, to keep the game 1-0. And shortly after, it was 2-0, with Kent Johnson, Denton Mateychuk, and Adam Fantilli scoring off a beautiful passing play. The future is bright, folks.
BLUE JACKETS GOAL – Adam Fantilli from Denton Mateychuk and Kent Johnson – 16:34 1st Period
Shortly after, Andreas Englund took a holding penalty on Marchenko, and the middling powerplay stuck gold. Sean Monahan fired one past Jusse Saros for his first goal since returning from injury.
BLUE JACKETS POWERPLAY GOAL – Sean Monahan from Kent Johnson and Zach Werenski – 18:10 1st Period
Shortly after, however, Columbus tormentor Filip Forsberg sniped a low-angle shot over Elvis’ shoulder to get the Predators on the board. After a slight scrum with five seconds left, the period concluded with the Jackets up 3-1.
PREDATORS GOAL – Filip Forsberg from Luke Evangelista and Ryan O’Reilly – 18:34 1st Period
Second Period
After some good back-and-forth to start, Kirill Marchenko got the lead back up to 2. Driving up the ice, he tried to draw a tripping call to no avail. No issue; just score anyways.
BLUE JACKETS GOAL – Kirill Marchenko (2) from Sean Monahan – 4:12 2nd Period
Nashville responded shortly after, however, netting two goals in 43 seconds to make it 4-3. Elvis was half-screened on both, but at least one of them needed to be stopped.
PREDATORS GOAL – Michael Bunting from Fedor Svechkov and Luke Evangelista – 5:43 2nd Period
PREDATORS GOAL – Justin Barron from Jakub Vrana – 6:26 2nd Period
The middle six or so minutes were more even, with Nashville even getting some good chances. Damon Severson of all people got a breakaway, and Saros just barely kept it from going five-hole. After, Nashville got a long shift in Columbus’ end, but it was abruptly ended by a bad pass right to Boone Jenner, who forwarded the puck to Adam Fantilli. Mo finished what Seve couldn’t for his second goal of the game, and it’s 5-3.
BLUE JACKETS GOAL – Adam Fantilli (2) from Boone Jenner – 12:00 2nd Period
The Cole Sillinger/Justin Danforth/Mattieu Olivier line followed it up with a great shift, keeping Nashville in their end for close to a minute. Then Zach Aston-Reese had a look at a wide open rebound, but couldn’t quite put it past Saros. No matter; Forsberg would cup check Erik Gudbranson, resulting in a powerplay, resulting in Sean Monahan’s second powerplay goal of the game, tucking it past the post during a netfront scramble.
BLUE JACKETS POWERPLAY GOAL – Sean Monahan (2) from Kirill Marchenko and Boone Jenner – 16:47 2nd Period
That’s the first time since the 10-0 game that Columbus has had three multi-goal scorers. Not content to end the period without kicking the extra point, Dante Fabbro scored from the point in his first game against his former team, making it 7-3 with 18 seconds left. The Jackets wouldn’t end the period entirely unscathed, with Damon Severson getting nabbed for hooking as time expired.
BLUE JACKETS GOAL – Dante Fabbro from Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson – 19:41 2nd Period
Third Period
Nashville swapped out Saros for Justus Annunen to start the third, despite the latter paying last night’s game in Philadelphia. The good news is that the Jackets only had to kill about a minute of Severson’s penalty before Evangelista got nabbed for tripping Monahan. No dice on the resulting, abbreviated powerplay, but shortly after Marchenko completed the hat trick!
BLUE JACKETS HAT TRICK GOAL – Kirill Marchenko (3) from Sean Monahan and Dante Fabbro – 5:23 3rd Period
After that, it was mostly playing out the string. The Jackets thought they’d practice their penalty kill, with Kuraly going off for high sticking, followed by Ivan Provorov getting nabbed for holding. Both penalties were killed, but sandwiched in between Nashville got a huge goal to bring it within four from Jordan Oesterle.
PREDATORS GOAL – Jordan Oesterle from Craig Smith – 9:02 3rd Period
Things kinda got out of control towards the end, with six penalties and a fight in the last five and a half minutes. First, Bunting and Provorov got a bit too aggressive in a scrum; Bunting got a double minor resulting in a Columbus powerplay. In a show of respect, the 4th and 3rd lines got some powerplay time as Dean Evason was content to park the bus to end the third. Shortly after that penalty expired, Severson got nabbed for another trip, though Nashville would counter with Svechkov hooking Danforth.
And then all hell broke loose with 1:26 left, as Provorov would break his stick battling Forsberg behind the net. He responded by punching him from behind and tackling him with the follow through. There was no call initially, resulting in Ryan O’Reilly dropping the gloves with the Russian defenseman. ROR got an additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, the refs ended up calling Provorov for “holding” after all, and both teams iced their enforcers to ensure there were no more tomfoolery nor hijinks.
All-in-all, a big win for the Jackets in the playoff race. The battle continues with Military Appreciation Night against the Colorado Avalanche Thursday, starting at 7:30.
Out of Town Scores
The Florida Panthers came so, so close to beating the Montreal Canadiens, before the Habs tied the game with eight seconds left before winning in overtime. They maintain the second wildcard as a result. Everything else went Columbus’ way, though, as the Ottawa Senators lost 5-2 to the Buffalo Sabres, the Washington Capitals beat the Boston Bruins 4-3, and the Tampa Bay Lightning closed out the New York Islanders 4-1. The Detroit Red Wings are currently leading the red hot St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the third period, however.