The Columbus Blue Jackets were about to embark on an extended road trip. They could have easily overlooked the San Jose Sharks. Thanks to a quick start and a good first two periods, the Blue Jackets avoided the trap game.
James van Riemsdyk scored twice including an empty netter while Kent Johnson added a goal and an assist to lift the Blue Jackets to a solid 4-1 win over the Sharks on Thursday at Nationwide Arena. Their winning streak now sits at six games.
The story of this game was their improving defense continuing to take strides.
Game Recap
The Blue Jackets took control of the game possession wise early. They eventually broke through just over 12 minutes into the game.
Zach Werenski extended his home-points streak to 18 games with a primary assist on Adam Fantilli’s 11th goal of the season. The goal for Fantilli extended his points streak to a career-high seven games.
Then the Blue Jackets turned defense into offense to double their lead. Sean Kuraly created a turnover in the Sharks zone and found Johnson on the other side. His shot squeaked through goalie Alexandar Georgiev to make it 2-0.
The Blue Jackets were able to extend to 3-0 in the second period thanks to van Riemsdyk. From the slot, he deflected home a Damon Severson point shot. It felt like things were in control for the Blue Jackets as they held the Sharks to just two shots in the second and eight total for the game in the first 40 minutes.
One trend started creeping into the Blue Jackets’ game towards the end of the second. They took a pair of penalties including one at 20 minutes of the second when Johnson sat for hooking.
This allowed the Sharks to gain some momentum. This led to Tyler Toffoli’s goal to break Elvis Merzlikins’ shutout bid. Rookie phenom Macklin Celebrini found Toffoli to cut it to 3-1.
Despite the Sharks pushing, the Blue Jackets were able to hold them off. van Riemsdyk converted on his second goal of the night into an empty net to get to the final score of 4-1.
Before this last stretch of games, the Blue Jackets haven’t allowed two or less goals in four consecutive games since 2020. The defense has taken some major strides in recent games. Both Elvis Merzlikins and Kent Johnson acknowledged it’s the best the defense has looked in recent memory. According to Zach Werenski, “everyone’s just buying into our system, our structure.”
Merzlikins stopped 18 to earn the win. That means each of the three goalies including Daniil Tarasov and Jet Greaves have one win each during the last three games. Meanwhile, Georgiev made 30 saves for the Sharks.
The Blue Jackets next play Saturday night at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers. The Sharks head to New York as well to play the Islanders on Saturday night.