The Blue Jackets made it a positive end to the weekend, washing away the taste of Saturday night’s home loss to Pittsburgh with a 5-1 win at the New York Rangers on Sunday night. For the first time all season, the Blue Jackets posted a wire-to-wire win, getting goals from five different players (Zach Werenski, Andrew Peeke, Yegor Chinakhov, Eric Robinson and Kent Johnson), two-assist nights from Jack Roslovic, Jakub Voracek and Liam Foudy, and the first career NHL win in net from Daniil Tarasov.
Game In Five Minutes
Video: Tarasov, potent offense carry Blue Jackets to victory
Three Trending Topics
1. The Blue Jackets learned their lesson Saturday night. After losing leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in a frustrating loss in Nationwide Arena to rival Pittsburgh, the team spoke of having to have poise with leads and playing a full 60 minutes to close out victories.
Given another chance at it Sunday night, Columbus did just that. After playing a solid road period in the first to take a 1-0 lead and surviving a New York onslaught late in the second to hold a 3-1 advantage after two, the Jackets went into the third focused on what needed to be done to finish things off against a talented Rangers team.
And in the third period, the Jackets got through an early push from the Rangers and pulled away with a pair of goals in a 44-second span to get the victory. In the third, per Natural Stat Trick, the Blue Jackets actually carried play with a 5-2 edge in high-danger chances and a 0.85-0.30 advantage in expected goals at 5-on-5.
“We stayed composed, and that was a huge difference for us compared to last night,” Peeke said. “Last night, they came and we let them come. Tonight we were able to manage the lead and get pucks out and gain zones. That was big for us.”
It was a continuation, really, of how Columbus played all game. While the Rangers aren’t quite the veteran team the Penguins are, they might be more explosive offensively, but the Blue Jackets repeatedly broke up passes with good sticks, rarely gave up chances in the middle third of the ice and never really let New York get going in transition.
“They’re a dangerous team,” head coach Brad Larsen said. “They have a lot of weapons, so you always have to be aware of the seams and be in the shot lanes. We had 20-plus (shot) blocks. That’s a good night.”
2. And when the Rangers did get a look, they weren’t able to get it past Tarasov, whose seventh NHL appearance turned into his first win thanks to 30 saves on the night. He was bested only by former CBJ standout Artemi Panarin at the end of an extended two-man advantage for the Rangers.
“It feels amazing,” he said. “It was an unbelievable night. For me, it was special. Guys helped me a lot.”
Video: CBJ@NYR: Tarasov makes 30 saves in 1st career win
Standing 6-foot-5, Tarasov is a big goalie who takes up a lot of net. The key to his game is playing calm and composed because when he’s square to the shooter, there’s not much open space left. He did just that against the Rangers, who seemed flustered as the night went on by both his positioning and rebound control.
“I thought Daniil in net was outstanding,” Larsen said of the 23-year-old. “He was just very calm. He made tough saves look very easy tonight.”
3. For the second night in a row, the Blue Jackets got bad news on the injury front. Justin Danforth did not make the trip to New York after suffering an upper-body injury Saturday night against the Penguins, while defenseman Nick Blankenburg left the Rangers game after playing 7:59 following a collision in the neutral zone in the first period with Kaapo Kakko.
There was no update on Blankenburg yet postgame, and the Jackets survived playing down a blueliner for the final two periods of play.
The good news was that with Danforth out, Foudy went in and impressed in his first live game action since Jan. 30 when he skated with Cleveland of the AHL. He suffered a shoulder injury shortly thereafter, and Foudy stayed on the roster at the start of this year after being cleared for contact during training camp.
The 2018 first-round pick got into his first contest of the season Sunday and not only had the two helpers, he showed off his wheels and got the puck to the net while playing a simple, attacking game.
“He had great legs,” Larsen said. “You could tell, first period, he was challenging the defensemen with his legs.”
Quote Of The Game
Tarasov on how the team helped him out on the way to the win: “I would say what I said in the locker room in my speech today. It was like a good mentality for the whole team. We just focused on our game and played our best hockey.”
Nerd Stuff
- Tarasov is the first goalie to earn his first career NHL win with the Blue Jackets since Matiss Kivlenieks did the same against the Rangers in Madison Square Garden on Jan. 19, 2020.
- With his two assists, Voracek passed 200 points in a CBJ sweater (45-156-201) while Sean Kuraly had an assist to reach 100 points in his NHL career (39-61-100).
- With his goal, Johnson has goals in consecutive games after going 13 games without a tally to begin his NHL career. He now has a three-game point streak (2-1-3).
- Roslovic made it consecutive games with multiple points, giving him 20 such games in a CBJ sweater. He has a 1-3-4 line in the last two games.
- Chinakhov has five points (1-4-5) in the last four games.
- Johnny Gaudreau‘s five-game point streak came to an end. He had a 4-3-7 line in that time.
- The six goals scored on the year by CBJ defensemen places second in the NHL, one behind the New York Islanders.
- Vladislav Gavrikov led the team in ice time, playing 25:17.
- The Blue Jackets have now won seven of their last nine in MSG.
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