The sky isn’t falling, folks. Tonight, the Columbus Blue Jackets showed what a dangerous team they’re capable of being.
The Jackets put together what may have been their most dominant effort of the season – it’s up there with their opening night thrashing of the Islanders – and dumped their heated rivals* from Buffalo tonight by a score of 5-1.
The margin could have been even wider, too. The Jackets hit the crossbar on at least three shots and the post on a couple of others, and had an early goal waved off (rightly) for goalie interference.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLUE JACKETS | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| SABRES | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
It certainly didn’t seem like the game was going to go this way, as the Jackets were outshot 14-9 in the first period, but a flurry of goals to close out the second put the game out of reach. Columbus potted three goals in just under three minutes near the end of the second period and destroyed any hope of Buffalo escaping Ohio with so much as a point in the standings.
Sergei Bobrovsky looked like himself, too, saving the first 32 shots that he faced, including this absolute gem on the breakaway.
Bob is certainly doing Bob things tonight. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/1vi0fWqRCm
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 26, 2017
For the second game in a row, the power play got on the board on its first attempt, this time courtesy of a sweet snipe from Oliver Bjorkstrand. This is a team that’s been elite at even strength so far this year, and getting the power play rolling makes them downright lethal.
Goals from Seth Jones, Nick Foligno and Matt Calvert pushed the CBJ lead to 4-0 before Seth Griffith got the Sabres on the board late in the third period. Josh Anderson then scored with 38.8 seconds remaining to make it 5-1.
The John Tortorella Vitamix Blender is still set to pulse, though, but with an offensive outburst like this, it’s tough to complain. The lines got shuffled up quite a bit early on, but once the team got rolling, we saw some new combos that may stick. For example, Josh Anderson on the top line with Foligno and Panarin, and Wennberg on a second line flanked by Calvert and Bjorkstrand.
Injury Update
Nothing new to report with Lukas Sedlak, who’s on injured reserve with an ankle injury. He’s expected to miss six weeks. Zac Dalpe got the first stab at replacing Sedlak tonight, logging about nine minutes of ice time.
Next Up
The Jackets are off tomorrow before a tough back-to-back. The Winnipeg Jets come to Nationwide Arena on Friday looking to avenge their embarrassing home loss to Columbus last week, and then the Jackets hit the road, leave the Eastern Time Zone and square off with the St. Louis Blues the next night. That’s a tough travel schedule – and two good teams – but if they play like tonight, they should fare well this weekend.
