Another solid effort.
Patrik Laine had a goal and an assist and Kent Johnson and Boone Jenner each scored for the Columbus Blue Jackets, who beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-1, on Thursday at Nationwide Arena to complete the two-game season-series sweep.
For Laine, it's his third power-play goal of the season, and his first goal since Jan. 23, breaking a seven-game drought.
Adam Boqvist, Johnny Gaudreau, Jack Roslovic, and Emil Bemstrom added assists.
Boqvist has three points in his last two games (one goal, two assists) and has eight points (one goal, seven assists) over his last nine games. Gaudreau leads the team with 37 assists and is on a three-game point streak (one goal, two assists). Bemstrom broke a nine-game pointless drought with the assist.
Kyle Connor scored for the Winnipeg Jets.
The goal is Connor's first since Jan. 22, breaking a six-game goalless drought. He's on a four-game point streak (one goal, four assists) and leads the Jets with 62 points. Blake Wheeler picked up an assist to extend a four-game point streak (three goals, three assists). Pierre-Luc Dubois also had an assist.
Joonas Korpisalo stopped 36 shots and David Rittich made 21 saves.
Sean Kuraly played in his 400th career NHL game. The Blue Jackets matched a season-low with two first-period shots. That also happened on Jan. 21 in the win over the San Jose Sharks.
Making Every Second Count
The two-game trend continued of goals being scored in the waning seconds.
Gaudreau scored a power-play goal in Tuesday's loss to the New Jersey Devils at 19:58 of the first period. Jesper Bratt scored seven seconds into the second period for New Jersey, and then Ryan Graves won the game at 19:58 of the third.
On Thursday, Connor's first-period power-play goal came at 19:58.
If you go back to Saturday's win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, William Nylander scored 2:39 into the contest and Morgan Rielly scored the tying power-play goal 1:20 into the third period.
Jenner's team-leading 16th goal came at 19:57 of the third period on the empty net goal. Laine picked up his second point of the night with an assist.
Patrik Laine And Kent Johnson Make Noise
Laine scored three goals against his former team this season, with two goals against the Jets in Winnipeg on Dec. 2. His second-period, game-tying, power-play tally tonight at 10:00 is his 15th of the season, and he's tied with Gaudreau for second in goals among the club.
Laine didn't start on the first line with Gaudreau and Jenner but played minutes with them in the third period.
#CBJ power-play goal leaders this season:
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) February 17, 2023
1: Marchenko - 6
2: Jenner - 5
3: Laine - 3
4: Gaudreau 2
Johnson's third-period, go-ahead goal at 9:40 was his 12th of the season.
heck of a goal by Johnson. Roslovic and Bemstrom pick up the assists. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/akU17mUj9x
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) February 17, 2023
The goal goes down as his third career game-winning goal, all this season, and all three since Jan. 25, when he defeated the Edmonton Oilers in overtime, and then he had one against the Maple Leafs on Feb. 11.
Overall, Johnson has 12 goals and 27 points this season. Among rookies, he's tied for fourth among goals (Ottawa Senators' Shane Pinto) and points (Minnesota Wilds' Calen Addison).
No Gavi
For the second straight game, Vladislav Gavrikov was a healthy scratch for trade-related reasons.
With the impending trade deadline on Mar. 3, it stands to reason that the Feb. 11 win over the Maple Leafs will probably go down as the last game Gavrikov plays in a Blue Jackets sweater.
That means one of the best Blue Jackets defensemen is out while the rest of the team looks to pick up the pieces.
Part of that meant fending off seven Jets' power plays, and three five-on-three power play chances.
According to Aaron Portzline in The Athletic, the feat of killing off three five-on-threes in a game is quite rare.
"The NHL’s record book for such stats only starts with the 2009-10 season, but the only previous example of the Blue Jackets killing off three two-man advantages — specifically 5-on-3s — was March 12, 2011, vs. Carolina," Portzline said.
It last happened in the NHL on Feb. 4, 2020, when the Vancouver Canucks killed off three at the Boston Bruins.
Winnipeg converted on Connor's goal but could not score on the remaining five chances. The penalty fest went both ways as the Blue Jackets went 1-for-5 with the man advantage.
Korpisalo continued his resurgent season with 35 saves on 36 shots. MoneyPuck had his goals saved above expected at 2.71. Columbus had 19 blocked shots to Winnipeg's 11.
36 saves for Joonas Korpisalo and an assist on the empty-netter for the cherry on top of a great night! #CBJ https://t.co/uBnWkt8kXa
— Dylan Tyrer (@DylanTyrer) February 17, 2023
The Jets' first line of Connor - Dubois - Nikolaj Ehlers combined for one goal, one assist, and 17 shots on goal. Connor led the game with eight shots, while Dubois had four and Ehlers had five.
The win leapfrogged the Blue Jackets past the Chicago Blackhawks by one point into 31st.
The "Big D"
The Blue Jackets are in Dallas to face the Stars at American Airlines Center on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 6:00 pm ET. Dallas took the first meeting at Nationwide Arena, 2-1, on Dec. 19.
