After two decisive wins against the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars prospects, the Blue Jackets faced a feisty St. Louis Blues group that had an overtime win under its belt. The Blues won 3-2 after scoring in the third period with under five minutes left to play.
First Period
The Blue Jackets immediately faced a much more competitive team than they had faced previously in the tournament. The Blues prospects came out flying and poised a challenge early.
The Blues would score during the first period and Adam Musil would put them ahead 1-0 at the time.
Not long after the Blue Jackets would tie the game up with a Calvin Thurkauf shot rebounding off the goaltender and falling right to Pierre-Luc Dubois who cleaned up the shot in front.
#BOOOM It didn't take long for the Blue Jackets to tie the game up. Thurkauf shoots the puck and Dubois cleans up the mess.
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) September 11, 2017
1-1. pic.twitter.com/impL1E9BBd
The first period was also penalty filled as both sides kept the game chippy with their aggression.
Second Period
More of the same in the second period as the Blues took it to the Blue Jackets physically which led to more and more penalties. The Blue Jackets would have to kill a penalty one too many times and it bit them as a tipped puck beat Matiss Kivlenieks to make it a 2-1 game.
A cross check from Thurkauf during the period set the tone for both sides as pushing and shoving was the norm after every stoppage of play.
Third Period
The Blue Jackets didn't just crawl under a rock though, they showed a lot of fight as they pushed the pace during the second half of the third period. Thurkauf on the power play found Paul Bittner and made an incredibly difficult play look easy. The game would be tied at two a piece at the moment.
#BOOOM Thurkauf passes it across the crease to Bittner and the Blue Jackets tie it up at 2. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/y0kAYSGkXv
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) September 11, 2017
Not long afterward, the Blues had a 2-on-1 that was perfectly executed by former first round pick Tage Thompson and the Blues would stay ahead for good, 3-2. The Blue Jackets had a man advantage for a couple of minutes before the final horn and were unable to score.
NOTES: The Blue Jackets will play again in the Traverse City championship game on Tuesday, September 12, at 7 PM on Fox Sports Go, NHL.com, and BlueJackets.com. The opponent is still to be decided as the Chicago Blackhawks and Carolina Hurricanes' prospects will decide who moves on in their game later today.
