The frustration continues to piles up for the Columbus Blue Jackets, as the losing streak has extended to six consecutive games. The Blue Jackets have yet to win a single game in the month of November. Over the course of this road trip, the Jackets went 0-4-1.
The contest last night for Columbus was a 5-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken, with all five Seattle unanswered goals coming in the final 40 minutes.
This whole road trip came down to the opposing team just simply having better goaltending than Columbus. The Jackets outplayed and outshot their opponents throughout the trip, but they were outscored.
The Blue Jackets have scored 2 goals or fewer in every single game, while allowing 4 goals or more in 5 of the 6 games in November.
After the best offensive month in franchise history, the flip of the calendar has gone from hottest ever to seemingly coldest ever.
This is the scoring results of Columbus/Seattle:
Period I
The Blue Jackets’ offensive production lasted a grand total of 22 seconds. Columbus’ fourth line of veterans from New York got both goals.
Sean Kuraly opened the scoring of the game past the halfway mark at 13:46. The Niagara Falls native potted his second of the season and 60th of his career from that wrist shot. Zachary Aston-Reese and Kevin Labanc had the assists.
Zach Aston-Reese tipped in a Kuraly shot at 14:08 for his third career Columbus goal. Labanc had the secondary apple.
End of Columbus scoring. Back into hibernation it goes for later in the month.
Period II
Tye Kartye got the home team on the board minutes into the third for his second of the season. Andre Burakovsky and Yanni Gourde earned themselves assists on the first goal at home last night.
Brandon Tanev and his wonderful team picture photos brought the Kraken to even at Climate Pledge Arena. The goal happens at 7:13 in the game. The younger Tanev brother’s fourth goal of the season was unassisted.
Eeli Tolvanen scored a powerplay goal 10 seconds after the Tanev tying goal. The powerplay resulted from a Kevin Labanc roughing penalty 4 seconds after the Tanev goal on McCann. Tolvanen’s eventual game winner would be his fifth of the regular season from Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann.
Will Borgen shot in his first of the season from former Columbus draft selection Oliver Bjorkstrand and former Cup winner Jaden Schwartz. This was the final goal scored on either goalkeeper.
Period III
Jared McCann, my Seattle Kraken player to watch, finished the scoring with an empty net goal. The leading scorer of the Kraken is now at 8 goals on the season. The assist went to new captain Jordan Eberle.
Players to Watch
Seattle — Jared McCann got himself a three game point streak going after a goal and assist against Columbus. 5 points in his last 3.
Columbus — Dante Fabbro showed himself as a mid season project for Evason. He led the team in giveaways with 4 in 19 minutes of ice time. That’s one almost every 5 minutes. Crazy how he stayed even. He also did have a third period shot on net in his Blue Jackets’ debut.
Goaltenders
Seattle — Joey Daccord had the 22 second blip, but rallied to save 38 Columbus shots of 40 faced for a 0.950 save percentage.
Columbus — Elvis Merzlikins allowed 4 goals on 32 Kraken shots against for a 0.875 percentage. These types of performances are not helping the club, as he has gone 0-3-1 in his last 4 appearances.
CBJ Three Stars of the Game
1. Sean Kuraly — goal (2)
2. Zach Aston-Reese — goal (3)
3. Kevin Labanc — 2 assists (7)
Game Notes
1. No animation from Wes McCauley tonight, as he was one of two referees that called the three Columbus minor penalties. Roughing and interference calls are lack of discipline with letting the opposing players getting under your skin. Don’t retaliate, and show them on the scoreboard how it’s done.
2. This was the eighth game on the road for the Jackets, and their only win is still against the early season cold Avalanche. 1-5-2 away from Nationwide.
3. 30 faceoff won to 25 lost for a 55% success rate with 13 of those win in the offensive zone. Only 6 won in the neutral. 11 in the defensive zone. Offensive zone was here Columbus win the most and got the shots on net as a result. A better goalie would help. But nobody wants that Elvis contract.
4. Kevin Labanc is at 7 assists with this multi-point effort, and now 150 for his career.
5. Milestone Watch— Monahan is still one assist away from career number 300; one point away from 550. Zach Aston-Reese is 5 goals away from 50 for his career. Zach Werenski is 7 goals away from 100 career goals. Dante Fabbro is three points away from 75 career points. Damon Severson is two points away from 300 career points. Elvis Merzlikins is one game away from 200 career games started.
Next Games
Columbus has their third back-to-back and final series of the month with a home game ion Friday on the selling Pittsburgh Penguins followed by a road trip to the Bell Centre on Saturday against Martin St. Louis and the Montreal Canadiens.
Rumors
David Jiricek — Friedman has stated on the most recent 32 Thoughts podcast that the relationship between the organization and him is “up and down”
“You have to remmeber last year that he was disappointed, and they had to sort it out…it’ll be interesting Jiricek and Fabbro are both right handed shots, does this push Jiricek up or down the lineup.”
Brandon Carlo — Jimmy Murphy of the Sick Podcast with Pierre McGuire mentioned the Columbus Blue Jackets were interested in Bruins defender Brandon Carlo in the past. With the addition of Fabbro, don’t see this happening. Carlo is a solid middle pairing defender, and could be the Provorov replacement is he is moved. But they also have Jiricek right there as the blue liner of the future that can easily go with a prime Zach Werenski.
More to come…
Obituaries
https://www.danjolell.com/obituary/john-michael-gaudreau/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaYM9fikwQbNkPlcwmTBaP2udJZw1oMBCmyXjp-GyttBpDhIoWnqY8lxQSQ_aem_zW3gpaArqsSO7D5ZI-Pdog
https://www.danjolell.com/obituary/matthew-ryan-gaudreau/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaZ33XNOJYMaSDfXxs3NcH7AY99EWfo9ObneKgMrpds4HwrC3U6Gkj0igr0_aem_qqWUcGWcBFf0sebC0an4RQ
Want to support the Gaudreau family? Here’s several ways how:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-madeline-and-baby-tripp-after-tragedy - Donate to Gaudreau Family Fund. At the time of writing it is at $691K
https://youtu.be/7ax8zyd8nk0?si=xoI63iohdyn2vVvD - View Johnny B Goode Tribute - personal touch. Loved this slowed down clip by the voice of Calgary. Skip to the 25 second mark.
https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/giving - Nationwide Children's Hospital (Johnny's widow, Meredith's workplace) support the children today.
https://foundation.ohiohealth.com/ - Ohio Health Foundation (where donations from a joint mental health charity drive from Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine went) Johnny joined the mission after Laine attended the NHLPA assistance club last season
https://www.childrenshospital.ab.ca/ways-to-help/donate/ - Alberta Children's Hospital for those in need and touched by the loss
https://kidsportcanada.ca/donate/ - Donate to the Youth Sporting Charity in Canada (Johnny Gaudreau donated for money each goal he scored to the Calgary chapter)
https://sniderhockey.org/support-snider/ - the Philadelphia Youth Hockey Charity (where Johnny and Matthew are from and started their youth hockey)
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