After CBJ wins, we'll give three takeaways about what stood out or what we'll remember from the Blue Jackets victory.
1. The Blue Jackets did what good teams do on Sunday.
Columbus headed to Chicago on a five-game point streak (4-0-1) and has been playing good hockey. The Blackhawks, meanwhile, entered the game last in the NHL in points and on the road to a fifth straight season without playoff hockey.
In that situation, teams that have high aspirations will show up and get the job done, and that’s exactly what the Blue Jackets did with a workmanlike 6-3 victory in the United Center. Columbus had previously lost to such teams as San Jose, Anaheim and Montreal – all in the bottom six of the NHL – but this was a professional showing on Sunday afternoon.
The Blue Jackets will want to clean up the penalties – they allowed Chicago to score three power-play goals – but otherwise, there wasn’t much to complain about for Columbus. They scored six goals for the seventh time this year, Elvis Merzlikins was again solid as he improved to 6-0-1 in his last seven starts, and the Blue Jackets didn’t allow Chicago to score an even-strength goal.
“I think we just played simple,” Zach Werenski said after another ho-hum two-point game gave him 16 points in an eight-game point streak. “We played hard. We didn’t give them much 5-on-5. Obviously they had a few power-play goals we’d like to clean up, but I think we played a steady game. We didn’t do too much – got pucks out, got pucks in and just worked hard today.”
Fellow University of Michigan product Kent Johnson – hey, I guess we have to give the Wolverines their due this weekend – agreed.
“I think it was a good game,” he said. “I think we were executing well, making the right plays, smart plays. Sometimes those are the simple ones, too, so that was good.”
2.. Another sign of growth is how the Blue Jackets don’t have any panic in their game.
If you think about the last few seasons, the Blue Jackets often played like a young team, which they were. They had trouble creating or sustaining momentum, and they often gave up goals shortly after scoring them. In tense situations, such as a tight third period, they played like a team learning how to handle those moments.
So far this year, especially of late, Columbus is playing a much more mature game, and it showed in this one. There was certainly no panic as the Blue Jackets held and built on a third-period lead, and they were able to respond whenever Chicago scored.
The Blackhawks scored three times in this game, and the Blue Jackets countered 1:28, 1:50 and 2:44 after those tallies. Suddenly, the Blue Jackets are the team dictating momentum in tight contests.
“It’s huge,” Werenski said. “You obviously don’t want to play from behind. It’s nice to respond quick. It definitely makes the game a little bit easier. Then we got a lead and just stuck with it. I’m really happy with how we played today.”
Head coach Dean Evason has preached a mentality that no matter what happens, the Blue Jackets just have to keep playing, so he was happy with how Sunday’s game developed in that regard.
“We kept battling,” Evason said. “We had some adversity and some penalties and different situations and some things that probably could have rattled our group, and it didn’t. So yeah, it was a good win that regard.”
3. The Blue Jackets are a much better team with Kent Johnson on the ice.
Here’s a stat – the Blue Jackets are 6-2-1 on the season when Johnson plays and 5-7-2 when he doesn’t.
Here’s another one – Columbus has averaged five goals per game in the five games since the creative 21-year-old wing returned from an upper body injury.
That isn’t all Johnson, of course, but the youngster plays in all situations and can serve as the straw that stirs the drink for the Blue Jackets. With his first-period one-timer past Chicago goalie Petr Mrazek, Johnson has now scored in all nine games he’s played on the season; with six goals, he’s now just the fourth CBJ player all-time to score six times in his first nine games of a season.
“He does a lot of little things right,” Evason said when asked if Johnson is a difference maker for the Blue Jackets. “He carries pucks through the neutral zone. Our entries have been so much better with him in the lineup. What we like is he’s not turning pucks over. We don’t care how you get the puck into the offensive zone. You can carry it all night as long as you don’t turn it over, and he’s done a good job of leading us in that area for sure.”
And in many ways, this one was special for Johnson, who got to play against one of his best friends – Chicago wunderkind Connor Bedard – for the first time at the NHL level. The two have known each other for years growing up in the Vancouver area, skating on a summer roller hockey league team together and even playing in the same fantasy football league. For this game, their dads even sat together watching the game at the United Center.
Bedard won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s best rookie a season ago, but Johnson was out of the lineup each of the two times the Blackhawks and Blue Jackets met a season ago. This time, they both saw the ice – Johnson noted he was chirping Bedard when the two lined up for the opening faceoff – and Johnson came out on top.
“It was cool,” Johnson said. “You wanted to come out on top. Anytime I’m going against him, it’s a team game, and he played really well, but it’s obviously a good one.”
