"Sometimes talking it out and looking it over makes a huge difference,” Olivier said. “I don't think any of us thought it was going to pay off the way it did tonight, but we're pretty grateful it did."
It makes sense that the three would work well together, as they all play similar games. They all have some size, are defensively responsible and tend to play in straight lines, and there’s certainly some skill there as well. They have the ability to defend in their own zone, win battles along the walls and then finish when then chances present themselves.
“I think with us it’s a good mix of everything,” Sillinger said. “We’re three bigger dudes that play really well below the dots, and when we get the cycle going, we’re tough to knock off the puck. If teams give us time and space, we can capitalize.”
Everything came together against the Maple Leafs as they filled up the scoresheet. Coyle posted the first four-assist game of his career – and notched his 300th career helper along the way – while Olivier had his first four-point game in the NHL with a goal and three assists. The four-point efforts marked the 10th time in franchise history that two CBJ skaters posted four points in a single game.
Sillinger, meanwhile, had his first two goals of the season and added an assist to tie a career high with three points.
“I didn’t know it was going to be like this,” Coyle said of the gaudy stat lines. “I think we believed and trusted that we were going to (break out) eventually. It was going to work out for us and we were going to help contribute a little more than what we have been. The opportunities have been there, the chances, and we just haven’t gotten the end result.
“A lot of that is good stuff because you’re playing with the puck in the offensive zone and you’re not giving up much. But we take it to heart – we want to be a line who is reliable defensively but also contributes.”
2. The Blue Jackets' depth scoring did its job again against the Maple Leafs.
Tuesday night in Buffalo, the line of Miles Wood, Isac Lundeström and Yegor Chinakhov – the so-called fourth line – brought the offense, combining for three goals in the overtime win over the Sabres.
Tonight, it was the Coyle line that did the most damage, and it reinforced the fact that this isn’t a CBJ team that has to depend on its top players to score goals.
There’s little doubting that the Kirill Marchenkos, Dmitri Voronkovs, Sean Monahans, Adam Fantillis and Kent Johnsons will get their points, but the Blue Jackets feel they can also get offensive contributions from up and down the lineup.
“We have a pretty solid lineup all the way up,” Coyle said. “There’s four lines who are reliable and can chip in. Some nights it’s going to be one line. Some nights it’s going to be two of the lines, and some nights it’s going to be all lines. We’d rather it be the last one, but that’s not always the case.”
The benefit of having depth up front – and, really, in the defensive corps – is that head coach Dean Evason and his staff don’t have to give big minutes to a specific line to win games. In each of the past two victories, ice time between the four forward lines has been distributed pretty equally, and the Blue Jackets’ offense hasn’t suffered and has in fact thrived.
“We roll four lines pretty heavily, and that makes for a really good recipe in an 82-game season,” Olivier said. “If you can get that rolling, you can get everyone contributing. Then when you get to game 40, 50, 60, where small injuries start to pile up and energy is a little lower, you still have everyone fresh and ready to go.”
3. Columbus has made major strides in one specific area that was an issue a season ago.
In 2024-25, the Blue Jackets won just twice in 12 tries in the second half of back-to-back games. We haven’t even left the month of October and the Blue Jackets have tied that mark, winning both second legs to kick off this season.
That depth we mentioned above might be the key to the equation, as the staff's comfort with putting anyone and everyone over the boards has led to fresher legs.
“The depth is obviously what coaches and teams want,” Evason said. “It’s nice. We play, whatever, 15 back-to-back games, so if you can play all four lines, all six D and you can have confidence that both goaltenders can play, then it’s great, right?”
Considering all 32 NHL teams played Tuesday during the league’s annual Frozen Frenzy, no matter who the Blue Jackets played tonight, it was going to be the second leg of a back-to-back. Toronto beat Calgary at home on Tuesday while the Blue Jackets won in Buffalo, so both had plane rides before tonight’s faceoff at Nationwide Arena.
The Blue Jackets felt like the fresher team, though, and used their speed to jump on the Maple Leafs on the way to the victory.
“It looked like everyone had some jump,” Coyle said. “I felt better tonight than last night, honestly, and that’s a good feeling to have.”
