The Columbus Blue Jackets made their yearly trip to Calgary, Alberta to take on the Calgary Flames on Thursday. It marked the second time that Johnny Gaudreau returned to his former stomping grounds since signing with the Blue Jackets in July 2022. It was also the teams’ first meeting following the infamous hit on Patrik Laine by Rasmus Andersson earlier this season.
Texier’s Shorty
It took a while for the Blue Jackets to get a short-handed goal this season, but Alex Texier scored their first during the second period. On a bit of an odd play, the French forward shot the puck off of the post before the rebound bounced directly off of his sternum area back to his stick, and he tapped it in behind Jacob Markstrom.
Texier has had a different role than what was expected of him this season; it was difficult to predict what he would be able to do this season following a campaign in Europe. He has spent most of the season on the fourth line. However, his strong performance in this game may push him up the lineup.
Werenski Back To Being A Workhorse
Zach Werenski was activated from injured reserve earlier in the day, which meant David Jiricek was reassigned to the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League. Head coach Pascal Vincent wasted no time in throwing Werenski back into the mix, as he was immediately required to play solid minutes. By the end of the night, he had logged 25:13 of ice time, roughly four and a half minutes more than any other defenseman. Ivan Provorov was second with 20:46.
In his first game back, Werenski got himself on the stat sheet fairly early. He assisted on the opening goal of the night, which was scored by Yegor Chinakhov just under three minutes into the game. Overall, there were no major signs of rust from the defenseman, who played well despite missing a considerable amount of time.
Blue Jackets Injuries Pile Up In The Third Period
Near the halfway point of the third period, Cole Sillinger tried to clear a puck out of the defensive zone and chip it off the boards in front of the Blue Jackets’ bench. Unfortunately, he got a little too much on it, and it sailed directly onto the bench. The TV broadcast cut to the bench, and the puck seemed to have sailed over the dasher and straight into Adam Boqvist’s face. After a few moments, Chris Strickland, the Blue Jackets’ athletic trainer, made his way to Boqvist and helped him to the back.
Just a few minutes later, Jack Roslovic took a hard hit from Jonathan Huberdeau, which resulted in a massive scrum. Roslovic was launched head-first into the boards and got a massive cut on his forehead. The officials spent some time deliberating before Huberdeau was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for boarding. Although the nature of the hit didn’t seem intentional, based on Huberdeau’s reaction, it’s certainly not surprising that Boone Jenner and Erik Gudbranson immediately stood up for their injured teammate.
On the ensuing power play, Dmitri Voronkov scored his eleventh goal of the season to tie Adam Fantilli for the Blue Jackets’ rookie lead. However, Fantilli took back the lead later in the period with his 12th of the season on an empty net goal.
Strong Night for Daniil Tarasov
Daniil Tarasov has a lot of pressure on him, and he needs to take a major step forward soon. Elvis Merzlikins likely won’t be a Blue Jacket for much longer, and Tarasov has often been touted as the goaltender of the future. He has yet to live up to his potential, partially due to injury, but if he wants to be between the pipes for the long run, he needs to show he deserves it now before management is forced to explore external options.
Tarasov did just that in this game, making 28 saves on 30 shots. The Flames brought a lot of pressure early, but the Blue Jackets did a good job of suppressing shots and making their goaltender’s job much easier than it might have been. With that being said, one game doesn’t resolve all of the issues we’ve seen from the Russian netminder this season, but if he can string a few performances like that together, it’ll be a step in the right direction.
Related: Blue Jackets Need Clear Development Plan for David Jiricek
The Blue Jackets walked away with a convincing 5-2 victory over the Flames, sweeping the season series against the Alberta team. There was every opportunity for this game to get out of hand following the events of the last meeting, but the Blue Jackets did the smart thing and left the past in the past while getting their revenge on the scoreboard.