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CBJ P57– Home Woes; Matthews beats Laine; Dylan Strome? |
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The struggles just continue with the home games for the Columbus Blue Jackets, as the Toronto Maple Leafs hold on for victory. Final score of Monday’s game was 5-4, in regulation time.
Toronto opened the scoring with 3 quick goals on Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins. The Leafs’ third line got rolling, with Ilya Mikheyev’s 10th; linemates David Kampf and Pierre Engvall had the helpers. The top line got the next two. Mitch Marner, my player to watch for his sneaky good season, continued his his season success with the 22nd goal of his year; newcomer Michael Bunting and defender Timmothy Liljegren had the supporting points. Auston Matthews’ 40th made him the first player in the league this year to hit that accomplishment. Winger and best friend Mitch Marner and defender TJ Brodie has the apples.
Columbus came back with 3 goals of their own. Sean Kuraly potted his 9th of the campaign; Max Domi had the lone assist. After great give and go play, Gustav Nyquist found Oliver Bjorkstrand unopposed, potting the biscuit past Mrazek for his 20th of the year; Andrew Peeke had the secondary assist. Sneaking in on the back door, Gus found Domer, who whipped the puck across the front of Toronto’s net to find Jack Roslovic, who one-times it for his 10th of the year. This was also the only power play goal of the game.
Shortly after the power play goal, Alex Kerfoot roofs the puck of Merzi’s glove for his 9th tally of the year; linemates Jason Spezza and Wayne Simmonds had the assists. Michael Bunting got the credited game winning goal next, with his 20th goal of the year. Matthews and Brodie got the assists.
The last efforts came in the last minute of the game, where Patrik Laine slapped his 22nd of the year; Jakub Voracek and Zach Werenski had the helpers.
Peter Mrazek stopped 31 of 35; while Elvis Merzlikins stopped 28 of 33. Goals were the story of this game.
Toronto takes the season split between the two teams, with both games for them winning 5-4. The scoring in the season series was 13-12 for the Leafs.
CBJ Three Stars of the Game
1. Gustav Nyquist— 2 assists (20)
2. Max Domi— 2 assists (19)
3. Oliver Bjorkstrand— goal (20), 5 game point streak
News and Notes
Jake Bean and Joonas Korpisalo returned in this game, and in the next game against the Islanders, we see the return of winger Eric Robinson.
Justin Danforth has signed a two year contract extension with the Columbus Blue Jackets, with a cap hit of $975K. He was a pending unrestricted free agent at year’s end. This kicks in for the 2022-2023 season. Danforth has 5 goals and 2 assists in 22 games this season.
Defenseman Billy Sweezey signed a two year, two way contact with Columbus, which begins in 2022-2023. He is finishing this season with the Cleveland Monsters.
Goalies Jean-Francois Berube and Jet Graves were assigned to the Monsters (AHL).
On the Rumor Cannon:
Danforth is off the block after his extension, but add Florida to teams in the mix on G Joonas Korpisalo. The pending UFA has a cap hit of $2.8M through the end of this year. If a second team were to help cut half the salary, it would put Korpi at a $700K hit, which is below league minimum.
After I had original speculation of seeing Domi as a fit with Colorado, David Pagnotta of the Fourth Period confirmed over the weekend that there is interest between the Avs and the pending UFA forward.
Reported interest between Columbus and F Dylan Strome on the Chicago Blackhawks, as reported also by the Fourth Period. This an interesting one as I’ve heard other rebuilding teams having interest in the younger Strome brother, though the Rangers, Senators, Wild, Blues, Flames, Penguins, and Predators all also appear to be in the mix.
F Patrik Laine (RFA) [Cap Hit $7.5M] ANA, FLA, LA, NYI
G Joonas Korpisalo (UFA) [Cap Hit: $2.8M] COL, EDM, FLA, NJD, VGK
Reported asking price: 2nd and 3rd round picks
F Max Domi (UFA) [Cap Hit: $5.3M] BOS, COL, NYR, OTT, PIT, TOR,
F Kevin Stenlund (RFA) [Cap Hit: $1.05M] EDM
F Jack Roslovic (RFA) [Cap Hit: $1,838,662]
Interested In:
F Brendan Gallagher (MTL)
D Jacob Chychrun (ARI)
F Dylan Strome (CHI)
More to come…
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
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