The Columbus Blue Jackets were looking to even things up on their California road trip after dropping the first game to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.
On the rear-end of a back-to-back and the second of three games in a row in the Golden State, the Blue Jackets faced the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night.
Columbus, once again, got behind early as they went down 3-1 in the first period, though, true to form, they battled back as they looked for their 23rd come-from-behind victory on the season.
The Blue Jackets fought back to tie it up 3-3, but in the end, the Ducks offense proved to be too much as the CBJ fell 6-4 in Ahaheim.
Bean Bumps Up His Game
Zach Werenski went down just a minute-and-a-half into this game with an upper body injury. With the Blue Jackets' best defenseman and by-far biggest offensive threat from the blue line now on the bench, their was a need for other blue-liners to step up and fill the void.
Jake Bean was one of the players to answer the call for his team. Bean had been struggling as of late, especially in finding the net - one goal in his last 34 games. The Calgary Alberta native found himself relegated to the third line to start the game, but instead of letting that get into his head, he struck as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
Bean evened up the score at 1-1 in the first period when he took a pass, just past Anaheim's blue line, from Jack Roslovic, skated up to the goal, and buried a wrister over the stick-side shoulder of the Ducks' goaltender. Bean once again scored a goal in the beginning of the second period as he brought the Blue Jackets' within a point.
After having scored only one goal in the previous 34 games, Bean managed to net two on Sunday night. He was aggressive on the defensive end as well, being credited with four hits on the game.
Berube's Bad Showing
Jean-Francois Berube was called up once again from the Cleveland Monsters last month, after it was announced that Joonas Korpisalo was having surgery and would be out for the rest of the season. Berube was called up only to have an announcement made not-too-long afterward that goaltender Elvis Merzlikins would be starting the rest of the games down-the-stretch.
It appeared, after eleven straight starts for Merzlikins, that the Blue Jackets coaching staff had a change of heart as they announced, shortly before the game started, that Berube would be in goal. The 30-year-old goaltender was 3-1 with a 3.25 GAA and a .924 SV% in four previous games this year.
To be fair, the defense didn't play very well in front of Berube, at times exposing him to a few near-impossible situations that lead to goals for the opposing team. But any time you let up 5 goals and post a .839 SV%, you didn't have a good game. This was sad to see for Berube, in what will likely be his last game this season, as he has been a feel-good story for Columbus this year.
The Team Tallies Goals
Just before puck drop at the Honda Center, the Blue Jackets put out word that Patrik Laine would be sitting out the game with an upper body injury. This was a huge blow as he was leading the team in both points and goals scored as well as being on a point-per-game pace this season.
The Jackets ultimately could have used their leading scorer as the Ducks outscored them 5-4, then 6-4 with the open-net goal to seal the game. However, Columbus did show that they could generate goals sans Laine, with three different players scoring a total 4 goals in the game.
Next Up
The Blue Jackets finish their three-game California road swing when they head north to the Bay Area for a late 10:30 p.m. clash Tuesday night with the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center.
