The Columbus Blue Jackets offensive success continues on a 8-4 onslaught against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.
The Jackets opened the scoring in the first period on a behind the net play from Lukas Sedlak. The AHL breakout was able to get to the puck first on a dump and chase play, got it to Scott Hartnell, who got it to the eventual scorer Sam Gagner, who came out the other side of the net, and beat Blues goalie Jake Allen right over the shoulder for the 1-0 lead. Gagner's goal was his fifth of the season.
Still early in the first period, the Jackets attempt a clear while short handed from behind their net by defenseman Ryan Murray. The puck was turned over at center ice, being recovered by Blues winger David Perron, who rushed in on a 3 on 2 rush. Perron dropped the puck to Vladimir Tarasenko, who dished the puck laterally to defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk who beat Sergei Bobrovsky to tie the game at one. The power play goal was Shattenkirk's fourth goal of the season.
Off the very next whistle, the Blues win the faceoff, and the puck gets to defenseman Alex Piterangelo, who gets his pocket picked by Brandon Saad, who passes it to Nick Foligno, and the direction of the puck tips off Jake Allen's arm and into the goal for a 2-1 Columbus lead. The goal was Foligno's sixth of the season.
Later in the first, an Alex Wennberg shot from the Blue line gets passed a confused Jake Allen for a 3-1 Columbus lead as two Blues players were also in front of the puck. Wennberg's goal was his second of the year; Saad and Foligno had the assists.
Going to the second period, the fourth line got on the board again with more cycle play. Lukas Sedlak got the puck down low to Scott Hartnell who got the puck to hit Sam Gagner's skate, which registered with Jake Allen's stick, and Gagner's rebound attempt was a backhander that hit got into the top of the netting across the red line for a 4-1 Columbus lead. Gagner's second of the night was his sixth of the season.
Less than 40 seconds later, Ryan Murray brought the puck over the blue line, who passed it over to Boone Jenner, who redirected it to Cam Atkinson, who got the puck on Jake Allen, and Brandon Dubinsky rebounded it for a 5-1 lead for Dubi's first goal of the season.
Later in the second period, the Blues turned the puck over along the boards, and Boone Jenner got the puck out of it to Cam Atkinson, who passed the puck to Markus Nutivarra for his first career NHL goal for a 6-1 Columbus lead.
Minutes later, the Jackets held off a one on four pressure situation, maintained by Jenner while the team was getting into a line change. Jenner got the puck to Atkinson on the blue line, who passed it to David Savard fresh off the bench, who droppped it back to William Karlsson, sho netted his second of the campaign for a 7-1 Columbus lead.
Still in the second, the Blues power play gets back to work with all five players passing the puck around the Blue Jackets zone. Eventually, Jori Lethera gets Sergei Bobrovsky down and out with a pass to Vladimir Tarasenko, who then passed it to an open Robby Fabbri who scored on an open net for a 7-2 Columbus lead. Fabbri's goal was his second of the season.
Starting the third period, the Blues power play continues to work when Tarasenko snipes a wrestler underneath Bobrovsky's trapper for a 7-3 Columbus lead. The goal was his sixth of the year; Shattenkirk and Perron had the assists.
Still in the early stages of the third period, the Columbus power play got to work with a one time pass from Cam Atkinson to Zach Werenski for a 8-3 Columbus lead. Werenski's fourth goal of the season was also asssited by the captain.
Later in the final frame, the Blues continued their hot streak in the power play with another great pass from Tarasenko to Fabbri, which beat Bobrovsky upstairs over the blocker and onto the other side of the net for a 8-4 Columbus lead. Perron had the secondary assist.
CBJ Three Stars of the Night
1. Cam Atkinson- 4 assists (8)
2. Sam Gagner- 2 goals (6)
3. Nick Foligno- goal (6), 2 assists (10)
More to come...