Columbus Blue Jackets snap winless streak in 7-3 win over Chicago Blackhawks: 6 takeaways
The end arrived with a boom.
In fact, the Blue Jackets’ nine-game winless slide ended Saturday at sold out Nationwide Arena (18,158) with seven blasts of their goal cannon in a 7-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.
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Boone Jenner led six Columbus goal scorers with two of his own, Zach Werenski set a franchise record for defensemen with four assists and three other Jackets — Cole Sillinger (goal and assist), Kirill Marchenko (goal and assist) and Adam Boqvist (two assists) ― finished with two points each.
"So many good things happened today," Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. "A night like tonight, obviously, everybody has a piece to it. Everybody feels involved. The atmosphere is good. They've been working hard. Even with what we went through, before the game I really liked how positive we were as a team. ... It's only one game, we know it, but it was a good game and it’s a good foundation for us."
Patrik Laine, returning from the first healthy scratch of his NHL career, was one of four players who scored in the second for the Blue Jackets (5-11-4). Elvis Merzlikins made 33 saves for Columbus, snapping its losing skid before setting a new franchise record at 10 consecutive winless games.
Here are six takeaways:
Columbus Blue Jackets make it rain goals against Chicago Blackhawks
It didn’t matter to the Blue Jackets that goalie Petr Mrazek struggled while starting for the Blackhawks despite dealing with an illness. He was between the pipes, their objective was to beat him, and that’s exactly what they did five times on 18 shots.
Just for good measure, the Jackets tacked two more goals on the board in eight shots against backup Arvid Soderblom, who replaced Mrzaek after Blue Jackets rookie Dmitri Voronkov made it 5-1 at 12:16 of the second period.
It was quite a performance by a team that finished one goal short six times in a vexing nine-game winless streak that made national news after it led to Laine being scratched. All through the slide, Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent insisted the underlying statistics that typically accompany victories favored his team most nights.
He felt the Blue Jackets were close to breaking out, and it happened in spectacular fashion.
“We broke at the wrong times (during the streak), and we made the wrong play at the wrong time that ended up in our goal … and then we weren’t able to recover,” Vincent said. “What I like today is we were able to push the pace, even when we were up 3-0 (and) then 3-1. We started pushing the pace and pushing the pace. Our second period was outstanding, probably our best of the year, so I liked the mindset of our team, the way we kept pushing and sticking to the plan, sticking to the process and it paid off.”
Zach Werenski leads Columbus Blue Jackets in rout over Chicago Blackhawks
Werenski’s goal-scoring will emerge eventually, but his current total of one empty-net goal won’t be a drag on the outcome of games if he piles up assists like he did in this game.
Werenski assisted on four of the Jackets’ first five goals against the Blackhawks to set the franchise high for a defenseman in a single game and matched the single-game record for a Blue Jackets defenseman with four points, which he'd done previously.
Werenski’s struggle to score goals became a storyline during the streak, as the star defenseman joined Laine and Johnny Gaudreau in falling short of expectations for the Jackets’ highest-paid players. Returning from season-ending shoulder surgery last year has been a turbulent process, but it was encouraging to see Werenski play like his former self against the Blackhawks.
“It just takes time,” Werenski said. “You can play ‘OK’ games and kind of fit in, but it’s not what you want to do, right? You want to be a difference maker and get back to your old self, and that takes time. … It wasn’t perfect tonight, but it was a step in the right direction.”
Zach Werenski, Adam Boqvist a good pairing for Columbus Blue Jackets
Werenski and Adam Boqvist are offensive-minded defensemen, which doesn’t always work when paired together.
That’s likely why they haven’t gotten an extended time as defense partners since Boqvist was acquired in July 2021 in the blockbuster trade that sent Seth Jones to the Blackhawks. Their success together, albeit a small sample size, suggests otherwise.
Boqvist, a healthy scratch now getting a chance to play after Damon Severson’s oblique injury, notched his first two points of the season with assists to give the Jackets’ top defense pair a combined six assists on seven goals.
“They can feed each other (passes) and create that transition offensively,” Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. “Righty (Boqvist) and lefty (Werenski). They can change sides. They can read off each other. Boqvist’s offensive IQ is really good. He sees the ice. He’s got good deception to his game. There’s a lot of components to each of those two players that can be combined, and it could become a good pair.”
Columbus Blue Jackets end power play drought in win over Chicago Blackhawks
The Blue Jackets didn’t score on their first of three power plays, pushing their scoreless drought with a man-advantage to 0 for 22 in what could’ve become their eighth straight game without a power play goal.
Instead, Jenner gave the Jackets a 3-0 lead with 6:05 left in the first period to cap their second power play in the game for his 10th goal of the season. Getting a high-low pass from Gaudreau and beating Mrazek on the short side, the Blue Jackets’ captain gave his team a much-needed lift. Last season’s 3-9-0 start was accompanied by the Jackets' 0-for-26 dry spell on power plays, which preceded a scorching hot streak in the middle of the year.
They could use one of those now.
Columbus Blue Jackets rookie Adam Fantilli matches Chicago Blackhawks' Connor Bedard with perfect pass
Two storylines dominated interest in this game before the puck was dropped.
One was how Laine would play after his “embarrassing” healthy scratch. The other was a tantalizing rookie matchup between Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli and Blackhawks center Connor Bedard.
As it turned out, all three had shining moments.
Bedard, the top pick of last summer’s draft, pulled the Blackhawks within 3-1 on an impressive wrist shot late in the first that pushed his season total to 10 goals. Fantilli, picked two spots after Bedard, responded with a ‘play of the year’ caliber pass to set up Laine’s third goal of the season.
After receiving the puck from Laine in the right circle off a turnover, Fantilli quickly returned it with a tape-to-tape backhand pass from about 40 feet away. Laine, charging to the net, redirected the puck over Soderblom’s pad to complete a beautiful goal.
Laine was stone-faced afterward. Fantilli was all smiles. This past summer, the two became friends after Laine took the rookie under his wing. Now, Fantilli couldn’t be happier they’re playing together.
“I’m super excited,” he said. “To be on the same line again is going to be a lot of fun. We have quite a bit of chemistry, I feel. Hopefully we can get him and myself going a little bit more and be what the team needs from us.”
Nick Foligno has important new role for rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks
Nick Foligno, the Blue Jackets’ former captain, held court Wednesday at Nationwide Arena during his only scheduled visit of the season.
“It’s always strange coming to a hotel here,” he said. “This is home for a lot of reasons. It’s always nice to see the same old faces and people. It’s a special place and always will be for our family. Always nice to be back.”
It’s a starkly different experience this year than it was in Boston, where Foligno helped the Bruins post the NHL’s best record last season. After he was traded to the Blackhawks with Taylor Hall last summer, Foligno agreed to sign with the Blackhawks and fill a key role helping Bedard and other Chicago rookies develop into NHL impact players.
Losing isn't fun, but he's enjoying the experience. It's similar to his role as a parent.
“The things that you never had to say last year (in Boston), you have to say repetitively this year,” Foligno said. “It almost reminds me of my kids, right? You’re just saying the same things over and over, but they don’t know. And it’s not their fault. It’s just the reality of the situation we’re in, and it’s exciting too. A lot of veteran guys in here have a chance to teach them what we feel is the right way.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets down Chicago Blackhawks to end skid: 6 takeaways
