That's one for the books.
As they finished up their season-long five-game road trip Thursday night in Chicago, the Columbus Blue Jackets won for the fourth time in five games, beating the Chicago Blackhawks 7-4.
Elvis Merzlikins (28 saves on 32 shots) was in the net again once again, making his sixth straight start. Arvid Soderblom (30 saves on 36 shots) was in goal for the Blackhawks, making his second career start.
Goals Early
Boone Jenner and Yegor Chinakhov scored 13 seconds apart to give the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead only 7:11 into the first period. Jenner's 20th came on the power play and Chinakhov scored his sixth of the season.
Boone has 20! pic.twitter.com/Ep8guzlLYW #CBJ
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) February 18, 2022
Yegor Bomb pic.twitter.com/8voDjYkAQn #CBJ
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) February 18, 2022
#CBJ with 11 shots on goal in the first eight-plus minutes. Jackets are flying early.
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) February 18, 2022
The Hawks answered with two goals of their own. Philipp Kurashev got one back for his fourth of the season for the Blackhawks at 10:24 on their first power play chance (1-of-4). Then Ryan Carpenter scored his first of the season on a breakaway at 14:21.
Before the period was through, Max Domi scored his first goal in 16 games (ninth of the season) to give the Blue Jackets a 3-2 lead. It's his 99th career goal. It was also Chinakhov's second point with the assist.
Alongside his fourth career multi-point game, Chinakhov had a big game in general with five shots — co-leading the game with Oliver Bjorkstrand and Patrik Laine — and was +2 in 15:43.
Domi's 9th (99th career goal). pic.twitter.com/hI8CWJGOoW #CBJ
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) February 18, 2022
Jenner's Career Year
Jenner keeps lighting the lamp with regularity, adding to his team-leading 20 goals on the season. His goal to open the scoring at 6:58 was also his team-leading seventh power play goal.
He added an assist on Laine's second goal of the game in the third period at 7:58 as part of a three-point night, his second this season. He didn’t have one each of the prior two seasons.
Laine continues to stay hot with a hat trick night to extend an eight-game point streak (10 goals, six assists). His first goal was his 300th career point. Jenner also won 15 of 25 face-offs (60.0%) on the night which led both teams.
It's been a career year for the new captain and this season has seen him score his most goals since 2015-16 when he scored a career-high 30.
Another Boone's Day -- Jenner with 1-2-3 tonight and 8-9-17 in the last 16 games.
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) February 18, 2022
The captain has eight multipoint games this year. #CBJ
Road Trip Success
It was a successful trip for the Blue Jackets as they close their season-long five-game road trip with four wins. After another bad loss to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday, the Jackets got back to fattening up on bad teams. They scored 20 goals on the trip while allowing 18 goals.
The Blue Jackets have won six of seven road games since losing 9-2 to the Florida Panthers on Jan. 15. With the win, they're 12-13-0 away from Nationwide Arena, and overall, they're back to being one over .500.
#CBJ 4-1-0 record on the just-completed five-game road trip marks the first time in franchise history the Blue Jackets have earned more than six points on a five-game road trip.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) February 18, 2022
Wins in Washington, Buffalo, Montreal and Chicago.
Trying To Sweep
The Blue Jackets go for the series sweep against the Buffalo Sabres at Nationwide Arena on Sunday at 6:00 pm ET. They beat the Sabres on Nov. 22, 7-4, and in overtime on Feb. 10, 4-3, both games being at KeyBank Center. The Sabres fell to the Ottawa Senators at home on Thursday 3-1.
