Three Things: Penalty Kill ... Still Bad, Tkachuk A Difference Maker, Some Silver Linings

By Will Chase on February 13, 2024 at 10:28 pm
Columbus Blue Jackets' Daniil Tarasov makes a save on a shot from Ottawa Senators' Mathieu Joseph in the first period at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports
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Some good, mostly bad.

Brady Tkachuk scored a hat trick to help the Ottawa Senators beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3 on Tuesday night from Canadian Tire Centre for their fourth straight win.

The hat trick is the 69th in the NHL this season and Tkachuk's second and first since 2021.

Claude Giroux had three points with a goal and two assists. Ridly Greig and Erik Brannstrom scored.

Josh Norris, Parker Kelly, Vladimir Tarasenko, Shane Pinto, and Thomas Chabot had the assists. Kelly (zero goals, three assists), Tarasenko (one goal, two assists), and Pinto (two goals, four assists) each extended three-game point streaks.

Anton Forsberg made 36 saves.

Dmitri Voronkov, Boone Jenner, and Jack Roslovic scored for Columbus. Roslovic's third goal of the season snapped a 22-game goal drought, with his last tally coming on Oct. 26 in Montreal.

Kent Johnson, Kirill Marchenko, Johnny Gaudreau, Zach Werenski, Erik Gudbranson, and Jake Bean picked up the assists. Gaudreau extended a five-game point streak (zero goals, six assists). Werenski is on a three-game point streak (zero goals, three assists).

Daniil Tarasov made 24 saves.

Emil Bemstrom entered the lineup for Yegor Chinakhov, who did not make the trip after leaving Saturday's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning with an upper-body injury. The Senators dressed five defensemen. Ivan Provorov went down in the second period after blocking a shot on the penalty kill but finished the game. X-rays will determine his status going forward.

Penalty Kill ... Still Bad

On Dec. 2, the Blue Jackets' penalty kill was second in the league (88.6%). Since then, they're dead last entering the day (65.8%).

It didn't get much better in this game.

Tkachuk scored a power-play goal at 9:48 — more on him later — as Ottawa was 2-for-5 on the night with the man advantage.

On that thought, I suppose killing three of the chances isn't awful when you allow so many to begin with.

Overall on the season, Columbus is 26th (76.7%) on the kill coming into the game. They allowed two to the Lightning on Saturday night.

Tkachuk A Difference Maker

En route to a hat trick, Tkachuk scored two first-period goals 47 seconds apart.

The first goal came on the power play at 9:48.

Then came the third goal at 16:48 of the second period.

It'd be nice to have Tkachuk. Either of the Tkachuk brothers, for that matter. Everyone's aware of Matt Tkachuk's stardom with the Florida Panthers.

Brother Brady came into the day third on the Senators with 41 points, first with 22 goals, and sixth with 19 assists.

The Blue Jackets caught an initial break before Brady's goals. Tarasenko had a wide-open look at the net but hit the post. Then Tkachuk scored moments later on the same power play.

Silver Lining?

If such a thing as a silver lining even existed tonight, Columbus had a 1-0 lead thanks to the rookie Voronokv at 7:11 in the first period. With 13 goals, he's now within two goals of the rookie lead led by Connor Bedard. Voronkov has six goals in his last nine games.

An initial snipe by Tarasenko hit iron on the power play before the first of Tkachuk's goals went in on that same power play not long after.

A possible fourth goal by Mathieu Joseph in the first period was voided after Pascal Vincent's successful challenge for goaltender interference. After the review, the official call was "incidental contact," keeping the score at 3-1.

Had the goal counted, it would have been the second consecutive shorthanded goal scored by the Senators. Giroux had one at 14:46.

Back Out West

In an important standings battle, the Blue Jackets battle the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday, Feb. 17, at 10:30 p.m. ET.

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