Three Things: Another Tough Test, Another Fast Start, Another Recurring Nightmare

By Will Chase on March 24, 2024 at 8:15 am
Vegas Golden Knights' Jack Eichel celebrates after scoring a goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the second period at T-Mobile Arena.
Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
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Blitzed.

Jack Eichel scored twice and earned career points No. 500 and 501 as the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.

Eichel is on a four-game point streak (four goals, one assist).

Ivan Barbashev and Pavel Dorofeyev scored for Vegas.

Nicolas Roy, Zach Whitecloud, Chandler Stephenson, Shea Theodore, and Anthony Mantha had the assists.

Adin Hill made 12 saves on 13 shots and was pulled in the third period after leaving in discomfort. Logan Thompson made eight saves in relief.

Erik Gudbranson and Carson Meyer scored for Columbus.

Zach Werenski, Kirill Marchenko, Dmitri Voronkov, and Trey Fix-Wolansky had the assists.

Daniil Tarasov made 43 saves.

Another Tough Test

A little over 24 hours after facing the Colorado Avalanche and coming away with a 6-1 loss on Friday night, the Blue Jackets had to turn the page and take on the Golden Knights in Sin City on Saturday night.

The Golden Knights need every point they can muster as they fight for another trip to the playoffs to defend their Stanley Cup. They entered the contest against Columbus in the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. Columbus took the first meeting against the Knights on Mar. 4, 6-3, at Nationwide Arena.

While the Blue Jackets aren't challenging for much in the standings, they are testing their mettle against teams thick within the playoff race.

Over the last week, they lost 6-1 to the Winnipeg Jets on Mar. 17, fell in overtime to the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 on Mar. 19, and then the 6-1 loss to Colorado on Mar. 22.

Another Fast Start

Similar to Friday night's game in Denver and the one before that against Detroit, where the Jackets scored first, they did so again on Saturday night against the Golden Knights.

Gudbranson scored his fifth of the season at 4:32 of the first period. Werenski and Marchenko picked up the assists.

With the assist, Werenski is second all-time in Blue Jackets history with 205 helpers, trailing Rick Nash for first all-time (258). His 39 assists are a career-high and he's five assists off the single-season franchise record for assists by a defenseman (James Wisniewski - 44, 2013-14). Seth Jones is the only other Blue Jackets defenseman with at least 40 assists in a season (41 - 2017-18).

Second Period Recurring Nightmare

Going back to Mar. 16, when they last won over the San Jose Sharks 4-2, Columbus has given up 11 second-period goals. They've been outscored 11-2 in the middle frame in that span, with the two goals coming against the Sharks.

  Goals Allowed in 2nd Period Goals Scored in 2nd Period
San Jose 1 2
Winnipeg 4 0
Detroit 2 0
Colorado 2 0
Vegas 2 0

This season, Vegas' best period is the second period as they have a plus-21 differential. They're minus three in the first and minus one in the third.

Columbus outshot Vegas 10-8 in the first and was outshot 23-3 in the second. They ended up being outshot 47-22 for the game and 39-12 over the final two periods. The Blue Jackets gave up a season-high 51 shots on Friday night against Colorado and were outshot 22-7 in the second period on Friday.

Desert Dogs

The Blue Jackets head to Arizona to face the Coyotes from Mullett Arena on Tuesday, Mar. 26 at 10:00 p.m. ET. Arizona won the first meeting 3-2 on Nov. 16 in Columbus.

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