Columbus saw its season come to a close with a 3-0 loss to Boston in Game 6 of their second-round playoff series Monday night. The Bruins won the series 4-2 and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals vs. Carolina.
Game in a Paragraph
Columbus saw its season come to an end despite a bevy of offensive chances. Unfortunately, Tuukka Rask stood tall throughout and got some help from his posts while making 39 saves. Boston scored once in the second period then added two goals in transition in the third to close things out.
GAME 6 FINAL: Bruins 3, Blue Jackets 0
Columbus drops second-round playoff series by 4-2 margin
Quote of the Game
Captain Nick Foligno: "It's just disappointing. I thought we played really well tonight, just didn't get a result. It's frustrating for a game where I really thought -- I wasn't planning on sitting here talking to you guys about this. I don't really have much to go on tonight. One of those games. We had our chances, just didn't bury."
Quick Recap
The biggest talking point of the opening period was a Boston goal taken off the board after it had appeared Sean Kuraly had scored at 8:53 after a strong forecheck by the Bruins.
But Columbus challenged for goaltender interference, and video review showed that Boston forward Joakim Nordstrom had pushed Sergei Bobrovsky out of the crease, so the goal was taken off the board.
There were some other good chances including a rebound try that Pierre-Luc Dubois put over the crossbar early as well as a shot off the post by the CBJ center, while Bobrovsky made an excellent blocker stop on Patrice Bergeron later in the period to keep it scoreless.
Bobrovsky also has to be on his game to keep it a scoreless game early in the second as the Bruins earned a 2-on-0 while shorthanded, but Nordstrom telegraphed his pass to Kuraly and the goalie slid to his right to make the stop.
Columbus had chances to take the lead as well as Rask blocked away a 2-on-1 shot by Oliver Bjorkstrand and Dean Kukan drilled the crossbar on a nice feed from Scott Harrington, but Boston was the first to get on the board. David Krejci made it 1-0 at 12:13 as Jake DeBrusk hit the post, but the rebound found its way to Krejci to one-time past Bobrovsky's blocker.
The Blue Jackets nearly answered about a minute later, but Josh Anderson hit the bar as well on a setup from Artemi Panarin.
With 20.0 seconds to play in the second, Anderson took a high hit from Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy that sent him to the room. Officials met, deciding whether the penalty merited more than a minor, but McAvoy only got two minutes for an illegal check to the head, much to the chagrin of those in Nationwide Arena.
Columbus got a power play early in the third and pushed for a goal but had some near misses, as Rask made a big stop on Matt Duchene as he skated in alone on the left side, then Zach Werenski unleashed a shot that hit the crossbar yet again for the CBJ, with Anderson's follow from his knees hitting Rask's shoulder.
Boston, then, made it a 2-0 game with 11:02 to play as Marcus Johansson did it all himself. The Bruins forward got into the slot on the rush and shot it, with the puck hitting Bobrovksy's pad and trickling across the line.
Then, with 9:21 left, the Bruins scored in transition again, as David Backes was set up perfectly by Torey Krug as he charged to the net and deflected a shot past Bobrovsky to make it 3-0.
By the Numbers
The Columbus power play was 0-4 and did not score in any of the last three games of the series (0-10) after tallying in six of the first seven playoff games (8-21). ... Boston scored first for the fifth time in six games in the series. … The Blue Jackets fell to 0-3 all-time in Game 6 in franchise history and 1-5 all-time in elimination games. … The score was 0-0 after one period and 1-0 Boston after two frames for the second game in a row.
Roster Report
The Blue Jackets made two changes to the lineup, taking out forward Alex Wennberg and defenseman Adam Clendening for forwards Markus Hannikainen and Alexandre Texier. The postseason game was the first of Hannikainen's career.
Up Next
The season came to a close for the Blue Jackets with the team advancing to the second round of hte Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in franchise history.
