Ho-hum, right?
With time ticking away in regulation, it appeared as though the Blue Jackets would be sucked into an endless abyss trying to crack the Los Angeles Kings for a second goal. For the majority of this game, it was...not a fun watch.
Ping pong, back-and-forth hockey with a dearth of quality chances and entertaining moments. But the Blue Jackets had a little sizzle in the pan in the waning minutes to stun the Kings, 3-2, in front of a big Thursday crowd in the home barn.
Here are tonight's three things from Nationwide Arena.
Out of Nowhere!
The Blue Jackets didn't have much going offensively. The game was a slog. The Kings were clogging things up. And the pace wasn't indicative of anything that was to come, but John Tortorella seemed to sense that and pulled Joonas Korpisalo with 2:24 left in the third period to try and get something going.
Spoiler: it worked.
A simple play by Zach Werenski made the goal happen, just flipping a wrist shot through traffic from the top of the key before Boone Jenner got a stick on it about 15 feet from the Kings' net. Jack Campbell had no chance.
And there's not much you can say about Gus Nyquist's pass to Pierre-Luc Dubois for the game-winning goal. Pure filth.
THE STUNNING SAUCE FROM NYQUIST AND THE SUBLIME SHOT FROM PLD.#CBJ pic.twitter.com/TZvZJEJtT9
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) December 20, 2019
Stickin' With It
Maybe it's the injuries the Blue Jackets are dealing with right, maybe it's the nature of their situation – they need to put some points and wins together if they're to have any chance. But the way they've handled themselves since that ugly 1-0 loss in Pittsburgh has been impressive. They're missing a ton of regulars and lost another one tonight (more on that in moment), but these Blue Jackets just keep on chugging.
The Blue Jackets improve to 4-1-1 this season in Thursday night games. Columbus has gone 15-2-1 at @NationwideArena on the weekday spanning back to Dec. 14, 2017. #CBJ
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) December 20, 2019
They could've fizzled and lost this game 2-1 or 3-1 and it wouldn't have been a major surprise, considering how the game was going and how much they're missing, particularly on defense. We're big fans of the aggressive goalie pull by Tortorella to show some urgency and light the fire, and the team's response was quality stuff.
Make It Stop
Last Saturday in Ottawa, the Blue Jackets lost three key players (Josh Anderson, Sonny Milano, and Ryan Murray) to injury in the same game. It couldn't get any worse, right?
"Hold my beer." - the Hockey Gods
David Savard was a late scratch due to illness, which meant Gabriel Carlsson was inserted into the lineup. Columbus' top six defense consisted of Seth Jones, Werenski, Vladislav Gavrikov, Dean Kukan, Scott Harrington, and Carlsson. No disrespect to the bottom two pairings, but if you were told the Jackets would win this game with that group of defensemen, you'd have likely laughed it off.
Oh, did we mention Cam Atkinson appeared to suffer an ankle injury in the second period and didn't return? Yeah, that happened. The Blue Jackets are calling it a lower body injury.
