Tarasov is finding his stride in the CBJ net

Fresh off making a career-high-tying 47 saves on Saturday afternoon, Daniil Tarasov could have kept going.

Was he tired after a workload that would have left most normal people gasping for air, including 18 straight shots on goal for Nashville to start the game? Nah.

“I would say it was not that bad,” Tarasov said after the game. “There were not that many dangerous shots in the beginning of the game. It was just the amount of shots. I was getting warm, especially at the beginning of the game, and I felt more confidence.”

That confidence was shared Tarasov’s teammates, who were impressed by the Russian goaltender’s most recent excellent performance in what has now become a string of them.

“With our start, if it wasn’t for Tarry, it could have been a lot worse,” captain Boone Jenner said. “He kept us in it, and kept us in it the whole night.”

At the moment, that’s what the Blue Jackets are getting from Tarasov on a nightly basis. The 24-year-old goalie – he'll turn 25 later this month – has been on a tear of late, stopping 203 of 217 shots against in his last six appearances. That's a .935 save percentage to go along with a 2.42 goals-against average that shows the third-year NHLer is finding his game at the highest level.

He had the unfortunate reality of missing the start of the season with a knee injury, and because he’s not eligible for waivers, Tarasov had to start working his way back into game shape at the NHL level. Trying to shake off the rust while facing the best players in the world is no easy task, and Tarasov – who did have a conditioning stint with Cleveland of the AHL to help things out – had a .877 save percentage in his first 11 appearances of the season.

At one point, the Blue Jackets gave him the net for a string of starts just to try to get him his sea legs back, but it wasn’t always pretty. He knew he’d get his game back, but he also knew the results might not be immediate.

“It just takes some time,” he said. “I’ve gone through it a couple of times, and you just have to be honest with yourself and work hard every day. It’s not going to happen right away. I think we did a pretty good job to get back.”

“At the beginning of the season, my first game was kind of up and down. You can play really good in the first period and the second you have some ups and downs, but it’s part of the game. You have to get back to your normal routine, managing the game, all 60 minutes.”

Tarasov has certainly done that of late, but it’s not a huge surprise. A third-round pick in the 2017 draft, Tarasov has shown his potential at times from the junior levels all the way to the big leagues. His size and athleticism are high-level, but injuries have been his biggest problem, including hip surgery that cost him the second half of the 2021-22 season and a variety of nagging situations a season ago.

Now healthy and in a groove, the best part of his game is starting to show.

“We know he had great potential; now he’s showing it more consistently,” head coach Pascal Vincent said. “It’s a big positive evaluation for him right now and moving forward in the future. He’s got poise, he has good hockey sense, he’s a big guy, and right now, it feels like he’s adapting to the NHL game. When you combine his talent and now he’s in more of a rhythm playing games, I think we’re seeing a lot of good things.”

There’s also one other factor at play – Tarasov became the father of a son named Mark two months ago. He and his wife haven’t talked about it much publicly, but Tarasov did note that his home life has started to put his hockey life into perspective.

“It was kind of a tough period (coming back), more the mental part, but I passed this part pretty well,” he said. “I got the support at home from my wife, and we had the baby two months ago, so it’s really big for me. It’s really important for me. That’s the part of life where you’re just steady, moving forward.

“(Being a dad) is fun. He’s awesome. He’s smiling a lot. When we were on the road in Western Canada, he’s growing so fast. The first time he saw me (when we got back), he was kind of surprised, like, ‘Who are you?’ And then he remembered me and started smiling. It’s awesome.”