FINAL: Blue Jackets 6, Blackhawks 5

The Blue Jackets came from behind to earn a wild 6-5 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night in the United Center.
Game in a Paragraph
Columbus played a better game than in recent contests -- the Jackets had a 43-26 edge in shots on goal -- and stuck with it to get the reward it deserved in a back-and-forth contest. It was a tremendous game, with Columbus scoring first only to see Chicago build a pair of two-goal leads at 3-1 and 4-2. The Blue Jackets tied it only to see Chicago reclaim the lead from there, but Columbus scored twice in the last three minutes punctuated by Kevin Stenlund's game winner to earn the victory.

Quote of the Game
Head coach John Tortorella: "We have a lot of work to do as far as trying to cure those type of (defensive breakdowns), but you throw away a couple of major breakdowns, I thought we played a really good game from that point on when they scored their second goal. So we'll go. We'll leave the building with a win."
CBJ Standouts

Quick Recap
CBJ goalie Joonas Korpisalo was sharp in the early going, with Alex DeBrincat firing off his stick shaft early on after a CBJ giveaway and also denying Matthew Highmore on a shorthanded 2-on-1, and that proved to be big when Atkinson gave Columbus a first-period lead.
With Chicago on the power play, Atkinson poked the puck away from Nicolas Beaudin as the Blackhawks defenseman left the zone and Nick Foligno played it back to Atkinson with space and speed. When he got to the top of the slot, he let go a wrister that beat goalie Kevin Lankinen clean by the blocker, making it 1-0 at the 12:10 mark of the first.
The second period was a study in contrasts, though, as the Blue Jackets were outscored 3-1 despite having an 18-10 edge in shots on goal. It helped Chicago's cause that the Blackhawks scored twice in the first two minutes of the period, taking advantage of a couple CBJ breakdowns to take the lead on a pair of first-career NHL goals by two defensemen.
Ian Mitchell started it just 21 seconds into the period with a transition goal, as David Kampf brought the puck up the ice along the left wing, drew the CBJ defensive pressure and centered across the crease to Mitchell for the goal at the doorstep. Then at 1:17, it was Beaudin's time to get his first NHL tally, as he picked up the rebound of a shot by Nikita Zadorov off the back wall in the right circle and fired into the far corner over Korpisalo's blocker.
Columbus pushed after the goal, with the line of Stenlund Max Domi and Oliver Bjorkstrand earning a trio of chances on one shift only to be denied by Lankinen, before Chicago made it a 3-1 game at 13:30 of the period. It was transition goal, as Beaudin fired a perfect diagonal pass to Kane on the right wing, and he centered to Pius Suter at the top of the crease for a tap-in past Korpisalo.
But the Blue Jackets did get some measure of revenge in the period when Roslovic scored a power-play goal to make it 3-2 with exactly two minutes left on the clock. Seth Jones fed the puck to Domi along the right-wing wall, and he quickly passed it to Roslovic in the center of the ice for a one-timer that flew by the blocker of Lankinen.
Chicago answered with its own power-play goal early in the third, the team's 17th man-advantage goal of the year. It was Kane who scored it just 29 seconds into the frame, as DeBrincat pulled the puck out of a battle in the corner and fed Kane at the top of the right circle, and his wrister got past the glove of a screened Korpisalo.
But Columbus showed it wouldn't go quietly, adding a second power-play goal on the night at 6:39. Moments after a shot from Del Zotto hit the post, Atkinson collected the puck in the right corner and threw a puck on net that handcuffed Lankinen, as the rebound sat at the top of the crease and Jenner jammed it home to make it 4-3.
Moments later, it was 4-4 as Columbus completed the comeback. Atkinson brought the puck in along the left-wing boards and tried to shoot it only to see the shot deflected, but it went right into the path of the onrushing Roslovic for the Columbus native to fire past Lankinen to tie the game at 7:59.
But Chicago had the answer yet again as DeBrincat restored the Chicago lead with 6:55 to go. The Blackhawks took possession in the neutral zone and moved quickly, with Kane coming in along the right side and feeding DeBrincat for a one-timer on the left over the blocker of Korpisalo to take a 5-4 lead.
And, well, Columbus had the answer yet again. The Blue Jackets pushed hard after the DeBrincat goal, sustaining offensive pressure and getting the reward with 2:41 on the clock. Atkinson sent a long drive off the crossbar, but it bounced out to Del Zotto, who quickly pounced and shot it past Lankinen to make it 5-5.
Then with just 1:14 to go, Stenlund made it a 6-5 game as he scored in transition. Bjorkstrand put the puck on his stick as he entered the zone, and Stenlund created enough space to fire the puck through the legs of Lankinen as he hit the low right circle to give Columbus its first lead since 1-0.
The Blue Jackets held on from there to extend their winning streak to two games.
3 Takeaways
1. Win a different way: Tortorella came into the season talking about offense, saying the Blue Jackets had to find a way to win some high-scoring games after the team grinded out most of its wins a year ago. We're not sure if he exactly had a game like this on his radar, but nonetheless he was happy the Blue Jackets got a just reward for what was a flawed but feisty effort Thursday night. "This is one of those, as we talked about, an avenue that we're going to have to find more often is to outscore a team," the head coach said. "We haven't done that very often, so this is a road we haven't been down too often." It won't necessarily become habit, but it felt good to do it with offense tonight rather than defense. "If you let in five you have to score six, I guess," Roslovic said. "It's good. It's good for the confidence of our group. Maybe we can realize it's not going to be our identity, but we can do it now."
2. Confidence: As the game went on, it was clear the Blue Jackets had a different level of belief about them from an offensive standpoint. It was nice to see a number of names on the scoresheet -- four CBJ players had multiple points and 11 had at least one point overall -- but the biggest takeaway has to be the obvious swagger the team played with offensively. Even as Chicago led 4-2 and 5-4 in the third period, Columbus didn't seemed fazed, continuing the attack with long shifts in the Blackhawks zone and keeping the pressure up in a way we haven't seen consistently this season. "They just held themselves on the bench," Tortorella said. Atkinson agreed. "We were definitely in the third period a lively group," he said. "We had some energy on the bench, and you could just see we were tilting the ice no matter what they were doing."
3. A Rosey outlook: There are plenty of players to focus on who had tremendous performances, but how about Roslovic? We wrote about his
emergence on the scene
with the Blue Jackets a couple of days ago, but he was even a notch better from a production standpoint in the win, scoring twice in the CBJ win. As usual, he wasn't exactly boastful about his showing. "It's been eight games right now, so we'll see if we can keep it going," he said when asked about his offensive production. But even Blue Jackets brass has to be excited about what the Columbus native has done so far, as nine points in the last six games is a start beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Tortorella praised his swagger on the puck after the game, while Atkinson said, "He's been playing really well. One of our best players since he's been traded here. We're going to need him to continue that."
Notable
Jones has a five-game point streak (1-6-7). … Bjorkstrand now has 4-8-12 in the last 13 games. … Del Zotto also assisted on the winning goal to give him a two-point night. ... Patrik Laine's 20:03 of ice time led Columbus forwards. He had an assist in the game. ... Columbus has 17 first-period goals in 15 games and has scored first in 11 contests this year. … The Blue Jackets scored multiple power-play goals in a game for the first time this year, doing it against a Chicago team that had entered with 13 straight successful penalty kills. ... The Blue Jackets' 43 shots on goal were the second-most this year (44 vs. Nashville on Jan. 16). ... Chicago had a pair of players earn their first career NHL goals in the same game for the first time since 1989 when Jeremy Roenick and Mario Doyon accomplished the feat. … Kane now has a 21-40-61 line in 49 career games vs. Columbus. ... The Blue Jackets have two wins this year in Chicago, matching their total from the past nine seasons (2-8-2).
Roster Report
Columbus made one change to the lineup, giving defenseman Andrew Peeke his season debut in place of Dean Kukan. Kukan was scratched along with defenseman Gabriel Carlsson and goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks.
Up Next
Columbus meets Chicago again Saturday night to complete the series in another 8 p.m. start.