Kent Johnson hasn't centered Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine since training camp. Until tonight.
With Boone Jenner being played on IR with a broken finger that the team expects to sideline him for four weeks, Johnson was placed between Gaudreau and Laine for Monday night's game against the Dallas Stars.
While the Blue Jackets lost 2-1, Johnson scored a goal and that line had some bright moments offensively, even though they were more on-ice xG, shot attempts, and shots on goal against while they were on the ice, per moneypuck.com.
| Category | For | Against |
| xG | 0.546 | 0.809 |
| Shot Attempts | 14 | 18 |
| Unblocked shot attempts | 10 | 11 |
| Shots on goal | 6 | 9 |
The defensive stats shouldn't be a surprise or even a concern. None of these players are going to be finalists for the Selke Trophy, and if they are, that would be fantastic for the Blue Jackets. What's encouraging are the offensive numbers like the six shots on goal and 10 unblocked shot attempts. In addition, they were on the ice for four scoring chances, per naturalstattrick.com.
This Blue Jackets team struggles to score, plain and simple. They have the fifth-worst goals/game average in the league at 2.71. With Yegor Chinakov leaving Monday's game with a lower-body injury and Cole Sillinger being day-to-day with an upper-body injury, this team needs all the offense it can get, regardless of the line combo.
#CBJ Johnson (7) goal pic.twitter.com/TqO8BcoYNE
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) December 20, 2022
So far this season I've written about how the Gaudreau-Jenner- Gustav Nyquist, Chinakov-Jack Roslovic-Laine, and Johnson-Sillinger-Kirill Marchenko lines have had to stick. Because of the injury bug, this hasn't been possible. So now, if they continue to generate offense as they did on Monday, the Gaudreau-Johnson-Laine line has to stick.
It'll be interesting to see if that line sticks together ahead of Tuesday night's clash with the Philadelphia Flyers.
