One of the stories of the season for the Blue Jackets has been the fact the cannon has been getting quite a workout.
Columbus leads the NHL with 92 home goals and is tied for first with 102 goals at 5-on-5, and their 3.40 goals per game are fifth in the league. In addition, Columbus has scored at least six goals 10 times in just 43 games this season, most in the NHL and one shy of a franchise record (2018-19).
But the reality is the puck is not always going to go in the net, and sometimes you have to find a way to win a low-scoring hockey game. The Blue Jackets did just that on Saturday night in St. Louis, building a 2-0 lead and holding it until the final seconds before leaving the Gateway to the West with a 2-1 victory over the Blues.
Head coach Dean Evason will take a win any way he can get it, but he seemed particularly proud in his team’s ability to grind out a victory.
“Everybody wants to score goals, and we’ve talked about the fact that we feel that we can score goals with our skill set,” Evason said. “But we have to really, really bear down and commit to keeping it out of our net. They’ve done that.”
The commitment was obvious as the Blue Jackets blocked 23 shots, their fourth straight game with at least that number. It wasn’t always perfect, but Columbus defended well, and when pucks did get through, rookie goalie Jet Greaves did the rest.
“It’s just consistent habits, knowing when you’re up like that, 2-0 or 2-1, to not force things and just having timely puck management, getting pucks deep and getting in lanes and having good sticks,” Cole Sillinger said. “It’s just all those little details that as we’ve played more hockey games here, we’re getting more consistent and it’s showing.”
The win extended the Blue Jackets’ season-best winning streak to four games, and overall the team is 8-2-1 in its last 11 games. They’ve also won six of the last seven home games as they return to Nationwide Arena for a pair of games this week starting with tonight against the Flyers.
Know The Foe: Philadelphia Flyers
Head coach: John Tortorella (Third season)
Team stats: Goals per game: 3.02 (15th) | Scoring defense: 3.45 (29th) | PP: 16.8 percent (27th) | PK: 78.3 percent (20th)
The narrative: It’s year three of the Tortorella era, and the fiery former Blue Jackets coach is trying to get the most out of a young team. His tenure hasn’t yet yielded a playoff berth – the team came agonizingly close a season ago but faltered late to miss the postseason for the fourth straight year – and Philadelphia is on the outside looking in this season as well. Calder Trophy candidate Matvei Michkov highlights the young talent on the roster, but they haven’t been able to outscore their mistakes enough this season.
Team leaders: Travis Konecny has blossomed into one of the league’s more consistent goal scorers, posting 30-plus tallies each of the past two years and staying on pace to do it again this year with team-best totals of 20 goals and 50 points. The wing is also a CBJ killer, posting 17 goals in 28 career games against the Blue Jackets and a 2-3-5 line this year in two games. Then there’s rookie sensation Matvei Michkov, who is firmly in the rookie of the year mix with a 13-18-31 line that places him tied atop all NHL first-year players in goals and second in points. Owen Tippett (12), Tyson Foerster (12) and Morgan Frost (10) have also reached double digits in goals.
It's been a scramble in net at times, with Samuel Ersson starting 21 games, Ivan Fedotov getting 12 starts and Aleksei Kolosov getting the nod 11 times. Ersson (11-7-2, 2.87 GAA, .887 save percentage) was in net last night’s win over Florida, so the Jackets will likely see either the 6-foot-7 Fedotov (4-5-2, 3.40, .874) or the rookie Kolosov (4-8-1, 3.45, .870).
What's new: Philadelphia got off to a tough 1-5-1 start the season, righted the ship some, and then has slumped to a 5-8-1 record in the last 14 games. Defense has been the major culprit, with the Flyers allowing 52 goals for an average of 3.71 per game in that span, but Philly is coming off consecutive wins over Anaheim and Florida. Tortorella has gone through his usual motivational techniques including a number of scratches to key players, but the Flyers are still trying to find the mix that will lead to consistent wins.
Trending: Philadelphia has won each of the two matchups between the teams this year, taking a 5-3 win Dec. 10 in Nationwide Arena before battling back from three different third-period deficits to beat the Jackets by a 5-4 score in overtime in Philly on Dec. 21.
Former CBJ: There are no former CBJ players on the roster, but Tortorella and assistant Brad Shaw spent six seasons with the Blue Jackets and led the team to four playoff berths.