Talk about a much-needed win.
The Blue Jackets want to take care of business. On home ice against a fading Chicago Blackhawks team tonight, two points was the only option.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLUE JACKETS | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| BLACKHAWKS | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Mission accomplished.
Sergei Bobrovsky was excellent. The Blue Jackets got a huge goal on the power play from Cam Atkinson, responded in the second period, and hung in there long enough to get a huge game-winner from Josh Anderson in the third period.
They had to hold serve and they did that.
Chicago opened the scoring early in the game, and Ryan Hartman's innocent backhander beat Bobrovsky (albeit with a deflection from David Kampf) at 1:22. The Blue Jackets answered later in the period with Atkinson's goal, a whistling wrister over Anton Forsberg's shoulder that was aided by an Alexander Wennberg screen.
Tomas Jurco put the Blackhawks back in front in the second period, but the stingy Blue Jackets' PK (yes, it happened!) helped set the stage for another response goal. Artemi Panarin started a 2-on-1 with Pierre-Luc Dubois, and the rookie bagged his 14th of the season to send the game into the third period 2-2.
It's been a shaky season for Forsberg, the former Blue Jackets property, and Anderson's goal was evidence of that. Anderson made two good moves around Duncan Keith and whipped a short-side shot through Forsberg to give the Blue Jackets a 3-2 lead that they would not let go of.
They held tough down the stretch and picked up two big points to keep the momentum headed into Monday's trade deadline.
Injury Update
Nick Foligno skated on Saturday morning (no gear) and is expected out at least another week. Markus Nutivaara and Dean Kukan (upper body injuries) remain out of the lineup.
Next Up
NHL trade deadline day features a Metropolitan Division match-up at Nationwide Arena, as the Blue Jackets face the Washington Capitals at 7 p.m.
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