At some point, the dam had to break for the Blue Jackets, and it did on Friday night.
Whether it was because the team was due to get some things to go its way, whether it was because the Jackets were back in Nationwide Arena, or whether it was because facing a familiar Pittsburgh foe got the juices going, Columbus was able to end its frustrating six-game losing streak with a 6-2 triumph over the Pens.
The scoring depth that had been missing of late was back. The ability to not just hold a lead but expand on it was there. The goaltending and defensive structure held up. And the finishing – which had dried up as the team tallied just 11 times in an 0-5-1 run – was there in droves as six different Blue Jackets scored goals and 15 had at least one point.
“We haven’t played in front of our fans for a couple weeks now, and with how it went on the road with us, obviously it was important to get a win here tonight,” Cole Sillinger said. “I don’t know how many guys were on the board tonight, but it seemed like it was quite a bit. When that happens, we’re a tough team to stop.”
For head coach Dean Evason, perhaps the most encouraging thing about the victory was the way the Blue Jackets earned it. The head coach has constantly preached playing “winning hockey,” and by that he has meant not sacrificing defense for the sake of offense, being on the right side of the puck, and playing the game the right way without cheating it.
Not doing that was the downfall of the Blue Jackets in the previous game at Seattle, when an early 2-0 lead evaporated in a 4-2 loss to the Kraken. Evason saw his team pushing for scoring at the expense of defense in the Emerald City, and the Blue Jackets didn’t make the same mistake against the Pens.
Staked to a 3-2 lead through 40 minutes, Columbus extended the advantage in the third by letting strong defense and puck possession turn into goal-scoring opportunities that the team took advantage of.
“It was important that we played how we played tonight, in particular the third period,” Evason said. “We catch some breaks to get up a couple of goals and got some pucks that got through that hadn’t gone through in the net for us, which was wonderful, but after that, it’s how we responded.”
The Blue Jackets also know that one win won’t make up for the six setbacks that came before. The next test comes tonight in Montreal, and Columbus knows it has ground to make up after the losing skid pushed them to the bottom of the Metropolitan Division.
But there’s a different vibe in the locker room as the Blue Jackets look to battle back in the standings.
“The last two years, as soon as we were losing three games, the snowball was rolling bigger and bigger down the hill,” goalie Elvis Merzlikins said. "Here, it was different. You could tell in guys’ faces and how they were acting, together, we didn’t want to get in that snowball again.”
Know The Foe: Montreal Canadiens
Head coach: Martin St. Louis (Fourth season)
Team stats: Goals per game: 2.71 (21st) | Scoring defense: 4.06 (32nd) | PP: 22.0 percent (9th) | PK: 79.7 percent (18th)
The narrative: After a stunning run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, the Canadiens have been in rebuilding mode ever since, drafting such players as Cole Caufield (2019), Kaiden Guhle (2020), Logan Mailloux (2021), Juraj Slafkovsky (2022), David Reinbacher (2023) and Ivan Demidov (2024) in the first round, with Slafkovsky being the first overall pick. The results have yet to come – the Habs finished last in the Atlantic Division each of the past three years and occupy that spot right now – but the hope is that young core will eventually lead to a winning era of Montreal hockey.
Team leaders: Captain Nick Suzuki might be one of the more underrated players in the game, posting career-high totals of 33 goals and 77 points last season and adding a team-best 6-11-17 line thus far this year. Now wearing No. 13, Caufield has gotten off to a red-hot start and is tied for second in the NHL with 12 goals among his 13 points. Slafkovsky has a 1-10-11 line and both Mike Matheson and rookie defenseman Lane Hutson have zero goals but 10 assists on the season.
In net, Sam Montembeault has started 12 of the team’s 17 games and is 4-8-1 with a 3.29 GAA and .893 save percentage.
What's new: The Habs made a splash with the acquisition of Patrik Laine from Columbus this summer with the hope adding an established scorer would help the team get to the next level, but Laine has been out all year with a knee injury suffered in preseason. Montreal really hasn’t gotten out of the gate this season, losing seven of eight heading into this contest and allowing at least four goals in 10 of 17 games so far.
Trending: Montreal won all three games last year, including both games on the north side of the border. Columbus is just 1-4-1 in the series the past two seasons after going 12-4-2 from 2015-16 through 2021-22.
Former CBJ: While Laine is yet to play, two longtime Blue Jackets remain on the roster in Josh Anderson (3-5-8) and David Savard (0-4-4).
