The Columbus Blue Jackets picked up two massive points Tuesday night against the Anaheim Ducks, winning 4-3 in overtime. It was a hard-fought game with plenty of momentum swings, as a 3-1 Blue Jackets lead was erased before Adam Fantilli ended it in overtime.
Related: Blue Jackets Down Ducks in Overtime to End Losing Streak
Fantilli went the length of the ice off a pass from Kent Johnson and sniped it through a defender’s legs to end the Blue Jackets’ five-game losing streak. The win placed the Blue Jackets back above .500, now at a 14-13-6 record.
Zach Werenski led the Blue Jackets with three points, scoring two goals and adding an assist in his 600th NHL game. Boone Jenner tallied two points with a goal and an assist. Jet Greaves made plenty of athletic stops, per usual, and stopped 24 of 27 shots on goal. Also notable, Johnson recorded two assists, and Yegor Chinakhov picked up an assist as well.
Here are three takeaways from the win.
Bent, But Didn’t Break
The Blue Jackets yet again blew another two-goal lead but held on to win in overtime against a Ducks team that pushed late in the third period. Anaheim’s speed was noticeable throughout the game and created too many odd-man rushes against the Blue Jackets’ defense early on. The Blue Jackets got lucky a few times in the first period, including a Ducks shot that hit the post late in the frame.
Late in the third period, Jackson LaCombe banked a shot off Greaves’ head and into the net to tie the game at 3-3. The goal came after an icing by the Blue Jackets, with Anaheim winning the faceoff while tired Blue Jackets were stuck on the ice.
On concerns about giving up goals after taking a lead, head coach Dean Evason said, “No concern. We will talk about it tomorrow and have a look at it. We have talked all along. Have we tried to figure out what is going on? Have we looked for patterns? Have we looked analytically? Have we looked at video? Have we looked at personnel? Yeah. And we will continue to do that. We will continue to teach and try to do the right things. But at the end of the day, we have not found any of those. So we will just keep going about our business.”
The Blue Jackets played in their 13th overtime game of the season and 10th in the last 18 contests. With the win, they improved to 7-6 in overtime on the season.
Blue Jackets Generated Better Chances
The Blue Jackets had the better chances in the game, especially in tight and from the slot. According to MoneyPuck, they finished with 2.51 expected goals compared to Anaheim’s 2.32.
Anaheim recorded only two high-danger shot attempts, both of which Greaves stopped. The Ducks also generated seven medium-danger chances, while two of their goals came on low-danger shots and one on a medium-danger attempt.
The Blue Jackets did a decent job keeping most of Anaheim’s attempts to the outside. Greaves faced 31 low-danger shot attempts, while the skaters in front of him blocked 20 shots. Ivan Provorov led the team with four blocked shots.
The Blue Jackets generated 10 medium-danger shot attempts on Ville Husso, along with two high-danger and 24 low-danger attempts, pointing to the quality of looks they were able to create.
Cole Sillinger had one of his best games of the season, as he recorded seven shot attempts, six of which made it on net. He led the Blue Jackets with 0.50 expected goals, which accounted for 19.84% of the team’s total expected goals, per MoneyPuck.
Penalty Kill Holds Strong Amidst Second Period
The game opened up early in the second period, with four goals scored in just 1:56 of play. Anaheim got on the board first with a goal from Dylan Strome. Werenski answered quickly with his second goal of the night, and then Jenner scored, doing what he does best, crashing toward the net.
Mikael Granlund then scored to make it 3-2.
Both Ducks goals in the second period were ones Greaves likely wanted back. Still, he had a solid game overall, finishing with six puck freezes and allowing only two shots off rebounds.
The Blue Jackets’ penalty kill was excellent on the night, finishing 4-for-4. They took the first four penalties of the game and killed all of them off in succession.
Evason was asked about the kill post-game by THW’s Mark Scheig, saying, “Anytime you keep it out of the net at any point, it is great. Obviously, we had four in a row, and that is tough. That is a lot of time on the guys and the people that are killing penalties, but the guys really bore down tonight. And obviously, our best penalty killer is the goaltender, and he was tonight.”
The Blue Jackets also earned two power plays of their own, but did not cash in on either. The first came early in the third period, with Chinakhov bumped to the top unit alongside Fantilli, Kirill Marchenko, Dmitri Voronkov, and Werenski, and the group generated a few good looks. I’d like to see this group get another chance as the top power-play unit next game.
These two teams will meet for the second and final time this season later this week, when the Blue Jackets travel to Anaheim for a late one Saturday night. Puck drop is set for 10:00 PM EST, making it a late one for Blue Jackets’ fans and a great game to catch after a full day of college football.
Before that, the Blue Jackets’ homestand comes to a close Thursday night when they host the Minnesota Wild at 7:00 PM EST.
