The line blender provided another offensive spark.
The Columbus Blue Jackets scored six times in Tuesday night's 6-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Justin Danforth had three points with a goal and two assists. Mathieu Olivier scored twice. Kirill Marchenko and Sean Monahan both scored and had an assist. James van Riemsdyk scored. Zach Werenski had two assists.
Daniil Tarasov made 26 saves.
Franchise Record Offense
No matter who's in the lineup or out of it, the Blue Jackets keep finding ways to score goals, and Tuesday's win resulted in a franchise record.
With another six goals, Columbus has scored 24 goals on the season, the most through its first six games of any season.
#CBJ lead 5-1 after the second period. Columbus has set a new franchise record with 23 goals scored through the first six games (22 in 2018-19). Shots are 29-18 in favor of CBJ.
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) October 23, 2024
Head coach Dean Evason and the players echoed the same sentiment following Saturday's disappointing 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild, saying they needed to start better and play to a higher standard.
Having a few extra days since that loss to think about things, and tinker with a new lineup, it seems like it was message received for a motivated Blue Jackets squad. The Maple Leafs were playing the second of a back-to-back following its 5-2 win on Monday night over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In the first six games of the season for Columbus, they've alternated losses with wins, scoring six goals in all three wins, and Tarasov has been the goalie in all three victories.
Olivier Has A Career Game
Among the players you might select from to have a career night on the scoresheet, where would Olivier rank on that list?
Sure enough, the 27-year-old from Biloxi, Mississippi led the Blue Jackets with his first-career two-goal game on Tuesday and now has three goals on the year through six games. Olivier had five goals all of last season, the same number of goals he scored in 2022-23, and would only need three more goals to set a new career high in that department.
#CBJ Olivier had five goals all of last season. He has two tonight, three on the season. Had four in training camp.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) October 23, 2024
Olivier scored the third goal of the opening period at 12:42 with Justin Danforth getting the first of two assists and Jake Christiansen getting a helper.
Mathieu Olivier's goal at 12:42 to make it 3-0 #CBJ means that half of the Blue Jackets bottom-six has scored and it's still in the first period. Assists to Danforth (his second point of the night) and Christiansen. pic.twitter.com/v1wYGoIaYu
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 23, 2024
Olivier's second goal made it 5-0 at 11:36 in the second period, with the assists going to Zach Aston-Reese and Danforth.
Mathieu Olivier gives the #CBJ a 5-0 lead with his second of the night. As a reminder, they picked up him from Nashville two years ago for a mid-round draft pick. He's been worth that and then some. pic.twitter.com/0bH5PPH0Vl
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 23, 2024
New Lines, No Problem
We wrote about a tough test that loomed for the Jackets ahead of Tuesday's game and as they looked to get back into the win column, Evason decided to jumble the lines.
Even though the first-line chemistry was evident with Yegor Chinakhov - Monahan - Marchenko, Evason was looking for a jolt with balanced scoring.
#CBJ head coach Dean Evason said today breaking up the top line was a difficult choice. He'd prefer to not touch the lines, but they want to see if they can spread out some offensive threats amid all the injuries.
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) October 22, 2024
"We did flip around our magnets. Coaches love their magnets." https://t.co/xFrSjY3Cg4
Tuesday's first line of Cole Sillinger - Monahan - Marchenko resulted in two goals and 12 shots on goal. Marchenko led the game with seven shots and Monahan was second on the team with five.
Across the board, Columbus had 11 players record at least one point.
Music City Miracle
The Blue Jackets split their four-game homestand going 2-2-0. They'll be in Nashville on Saturday night to face the Predators for an 8:00 p.m. ET puck drop. Columbus is 9-36-1-6 all-time in 52 games at Nashville.
