CBJ 5, CHI 1: Johnson, Werenski Combine For Three Goals, Five Points In Blue Jackets Rout Of Blackhawks

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CBJ GOALS:  K. Johnson (P1, 4:10) K. Johnson (2) (PP) (P2, 1:12) Mateychuk (P2, 12:42) Werenski (P3, 13:51) Fantilli (P3, 14:44)

Kent Johnson scored twice and Zach Werenski added three points to continue his historic run as the Columbus Blue Jackets smothered the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night by a final of 5-1. 

Johnson got the scoring started early for the Blue Jackets, giving Columbus a 1-0 lead just over four minutes in. 

He would add his second goal —a power-play strike — just over a minute into the second period to make it 2-0 in favor of the Blue Jackets.

Werenski assisted on both goals, extending his home point streak to 22 games. That's the third-most all-time by a defenseman, and he's now just one away from tying Phil Housley for second all-time.

Bobby Orr, with 25, holds the record.

After Chicago got to within one just over three minutes after Johnson's power-play goal, Denton Mateychuk restored Columbus' two-goal lead with his second goal of the season to extend Columbus' lead to 3-1.

With the score still 3-1 in the third period, Werenski's 18th goal of the season at 13:51 put the game out of reach and gave the Norris-candidate his fifth 3+ point night of the season. Adam Fantilli added a goal less than a minute later for good measure to complete Columbus' scoring for the evening.

Head coach Dean Evason said that that he was happy with the players conditioning despite the two-week break, while identifying at least one area for improvement before Tuesday's game against the Dallas Stars.

"Our commitment level, our work was real good," said Evason. "We turned the puck over a few too many times coming out of our zone; (it's) something we need to correct here in the next couple of days." 

This was the first time that Evason had coached Boone Jenner in a regular season game, and the coach offered up positive praise of his performance after.

"He's such a worker," said Evason. "He's just such a calming presence."

Jenner played 16:56 in his season debut.

Here's how the Blue Jackets picked up two points in their first game out of the break:

1st Period:

(4:10 — CBJ Goal): A good team keep-in from the Blue Jackets leads to the first goal of the game. The puck ends up on the stick of Sillinger, who quickly finds Johnson entering the slot. Johnson makes a couple of quick moves with the puck as he skates in and beats Chicago goalie Petr Mrazek to put Columbus in front, 1-0.

#CBJ are up 1-0 after the opening period thanks to this Kent Johnson goal, his 18th of the season. Cole Sillinger gets the primary assist (his 19th), with Zach Werenski extending his home point streak to 22 games on the other assist, his 43rd.pic.twitter.com/Rrv1WLsmkG

— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) February 23, 2025

2nd Period

(1:12 — CBJ PP Goal): Johnson gets his second of the game with relative ease. Fantilli wins the faceoff, pushes the puck back to Werenski, he gets it over to Johnson near the boards. Johnson then walks into the slot and fires it past Mrazek for the power-play tally to double Columbus' lead to 2-0.

Here's KJ's second of the night (with anotheeeerrrrr assist from Z) that extended the #CBJ lead to 2-0. Chicago had fought back to make it a one-goal game in the middle of the second. pic.twitter.com/nbtTetsUPT

— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) February 23, 2025

(4:53 — CHI Goal): The road team get on the board with a power-play goal of their own and cut it to a one-goal game. Craig Smith gets his 8th of the season for Chicago.

(12:42 — CBJ Goal): The Blackhawks clearing attempt is successful, but the puck bounces right to Mateychuk at center ice. He skates in without much opposition and rips it from the high-slot, beating Mrazek to restore Columbus' two-goal lead, this time at 3-1 Blue Jackets.

#CBJ with a 3-1 lead after the second period. Johnson had two goals and Denton Mateychuk has the other. Here's his second goal of the season to put the Jackets up two. pic.twitter.com/xrcVxLfHCo

— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) February 23, 2025

3rd Period

(13:51 — CBJ Goal): Werenski gets himself a rare breakaway opportunity and makes the most of it. He picks the puck up in the slot and outskates the Chicago defenders en route to his 18th of the season, giving the Blue Jackets a 4-1 lead and effectively putting the game out of reach.

Columbus goal!

Scored by Zach Werenski with 06:09 remaining in the 3rd period.

Assisted by Boone Jenner.

Columbus: 4
Chicago: 1#CHIvsCBJ #CBJ #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/vrIEpfEwjn

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 23, 2025

(14:44 — CBJ Goal): If it wasn't out of reach at 4-1 (it was), Fantilli puts the exclamation point on Columbus' win less than a minute later. The top line comes together for a goal as Dmitri Voronkov gets a nice little back-handed pass off to Marchenko behind the goalie. Marchenko skates behind the net and sees Fantilli just outside of the crease, easily beating Mrazek to make it 5-1 Blue Jackets.

Columbus goal!

Scored by Adam Fantilli with 05:16 remaining in the 3rd period.

Assisted by Kirill Marchenko and Dmitri Voronkov.

Columbus: 5
Chicago: 1#CHIvsCBJ #CBJ #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/QYMbTT3PwK

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 23, 2025

Stat Chat:

• Werenski led all Blue Jackets with 23:11 of ice time, but that's still more than three minutes less than his average of 26:53 this season. It was likely a relief to the coaching staff — and perhaps Z, too — that he was able to avoid another heavy-minutes night.
   
• Joseph LaBate played 7:19 in his first NHL game in nearly a decade and picked up a fighting major late in the first, too. That fight came against Nick Foligno, the former Blue Jackets captain. 
   
• The Blue Jackets were far more the aggressive of the teams, out-hitting the Blackhawks by a nearly three-to-one margin. 

Up Next:

The Blue Jackets return to Nationwide Ice for a Tuesday night match against the Dallas Stars. Puck-drop is set for 7 p.m.