The Columbus Blue Jackets found their favorite day of the week - Saturday. The Blue Jackets respond to the First Responders' Night in a 5-3 win over the San Jose Sharks.
Timo Meier, my San Jose Sharks' player to watch, opened the game scoring with his team leading 27th goal of the season. The Swiss winger got the assists from forwards Noah Gregor and Tomas Hertl. This was the only first period goal, coming midway through that portion of the game.
Not until passing the five minute mark of the second period did we get the second goal of the game. San Jose extended their lead to two with a Nick Bonino wrap around for number eight. Forward Nico Sturm and defender Jason Megna got the helpers.
Columbus responded with two goals in 72 seconds to even the contest to close the middle frame.
All Star Johnny Gaudreau registered his 13th of the year off the power play. Patrik Laine and Nick Blankenburg had the helpers.
Captain Boone Jenner brought the game back with his 12th goal of the season. The number 12 also came into the assist department, as both Kent Johnson and Gustav Nyquist, my Columbus Blue Jackets' player to watch, got their 12th assists of the season.
San Jose opened the third period scoring, ending their team scoring for the game, with Sturm's second point of the game and 11th of the campaign. The unassisted goal came less than two minutes into the final frame.
Patrik Laine evened the game just a minute later for his 13th goal of season. His snapshot was assisted by Jack Roslovic and Gaudreau.
Nyquist got the game winning goal for his 10th goal of the season; KJ got his second assist of the game.
Sean Kuraly got the closing goal on an empty net for number nine on the year. Defenders Blankenburg and Andrew Peeke got the apples.
Timo Meier was my Sharks' player to watch, having his 27th goal of the season for career goal number 149. It's also his 310th point in his 440th game played. That's a 0.7 point per game production rating.
Kaapo Kahkonen was the goaltender in between the pipes for San Jose, allowing 4 goals on 28 shots faced for a 0.857 save percentage on the evening.
Gustav Nyquist was my Union Blue player to Review, having a multipoint game against one of his two former teams. Goose had a goal and an assist on the evening. This is career goal 174, assist number 249, point numbers 422 and 423 on the season ar game number 698. That's a point per game production of 0.6. He is now at 22 points in 46 games on the current season, a present day 0.47 point per game pace.
Joonas Korpisalo returned to the crease for the first time since January 12, where he started that game just less than 24 hours after the wife of his newborn. Korpsialo had 23 saves on 25 shots for a 0.920 save percentage. Congratulations to the new dad on getting his first win as a father.
CBJ Three Stars of the Game
1. Gustav Nyquist -- GWG (10), assist (12)
2. Johnny Gaudreau -- goal (13), assist (31)
3. Patrik Laine -- goal (13), assist (12)
This is the Blue Jackets' fourth consecutive Saturday win. They have outscored their opponents 17-10 in this stretch. 3 of the wins were from Korpsialo; one is from Elvis.
Patrik Laine, Kirill Marchenko, and Gustav Nyquist combine for 10 of the 17 goals. Johnny Gaudreau has one goal and 5 assists in this streak.
This team has to most success in front of the most fans and important moments - Saturday and occasional moments to bring everyone together and motivate the team. A great and exciting way to have people leaving the building happy at the end of the day.
A lot of ups around, and now begins a four game Western road trip. Johnny's return to Calgary; McDavid and the Oilers; Rick Tochett; and closing with Wennberg and Bjorkstrand in Seattle for number five in a row.
More to come...
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