BOS 4, CBJ 0: Turnovers Cost Blue Jackets Repeatedly In Shutout Loss To Bruins

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CBJ GOALS:  None

Road games and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Not friends.

Back-to-back games: also not friends.

One night after dominating the Boston Bruins in a 6-2 win at Nationwide Arena, the Blue Jackets were held off the scoreboard entirely in Boston in the second half of the home-and-home series.

The 4-0 loss, their fourth straight defeat away from home, moves Columbus to just 4-12-3 on the road this season. They're also now 0-6-0 on the second half of a back-to-back, giving up at least four goals in all six games and not scoring more than twice in any of them.

Boston opened the scoring just 2:29 into the game, adding two goals in the second period on costly turnovers by the Blue Jackets less than two minutes apart.

Another turnover, this one in the third period, led to Boston's fourth and final goal of the game.

Daniil Tarasov, in his first start since December 5th, struggled again. He's given up at least four goals in seven of his 10 starts this season. Tarasov finished with 24 saves on 28 shots. Opposite of him, Boston's Jeremy Swayman picked up his second shutout of the season in an 18-save effort.

Here's how the season series concluded between the Bruins and the Blue Jackets:

1st Period:

(2:29 — BOS Goal): It doesn't take long for the Bruins to shake off the Friday night rust. They make it 1-0 after good puck movement leads to Tarasov losing track of the puck in the crease. Mikael Pyyhtia is there to try and clean it out but misses the clearing attempt. Justin Brazeau does not miss and puts it home to get the scoring started for the B's.

2nd Period

(6:29 — BOS Goal): An ugly turnover from Damon Severson here, as he puts the puck right on the stick of Morgan Geekie in the high slot and he whizzes it past Tarasov to extend the Bruins lead to 2-0. Severson was benched for the rest of the period following the play but would return to the ice for the third.

Damon Severson did not see the ice in the second period following Boston's goal at 6:29 to make it 2-0. Here's the turnover that led to the benching from #CBJ coach Dean Evason:pic.twitter.com/NiABTkuJAh

— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) December 29, 2024

(8:18 — BOS Goal): Another turnover leading to a Boston goal, though this one has an unfortunate bounce off the skate to shirk some of the blame away. Dante Fabbro is trying to get a pass off to Zach Werenski but it's a little behind him and pings off the skate of Boston's Matthew Poitras. It goes right to David Pastrnak, who has a clean breakaway and beats Tarasov to give the Bruins a 3-0 lead.

(8:36 — A Missed Opportunity): Less than 20 seconds after the Bruins score, the Blue Jackets get a four-minute opportunity on the power play after Sean Kuraly takes a high-stick to the face that draws blood. It was an opportunity for the Blue Jackets to get back into the game — instead, the Blue Jackets get just one shot on goal, compared to two for the Bruins.

3rd Period

(6:06 — BOS Goal): Another turnover that leads to another Bruins goal, this time to make it 4-0 Boston. Denton Mateychuk and Ivan Provorov miscommunicate in the Boston zone and Cole Koepke picks the loose puck up and moves the other way. He hangs on to it and beats Tarasov from near the high slot. The turnover was not good but it's a save that Tarasov has to make.

Stat Chat:

• The Blue Jackets 18 shots was tied for their second-fewest of the season, eclipsing only the 16 they had in Calgary against the Flames on December 3rd. That was their only other shutout loss of the season.
   
• After successful kills on both of Boston's power play opportunities, the Blue Jackets are now 10/10 over their last five games on the penalty kill.

Up Next:

The final game of the 2024 calendar year for the Blue Jackets is a home date with the Carolina Hurricanes. Puck drops an hour later than normal: 8 p.m. for the first face-off.