The CBJ Writer

Tonight, we saw Team U.S.A play Team Latvia. The United States team has Columbus Blue Jackets' Defenseman Zach Werenski, while Team Latvia has Columbus Blue Jackets' Goaltender Elvis Merzlikins. Zach Werenski would come away with the secondary assist on the first goal scored for Team U.S.A tonight by Brady Tkachuk at 5:29 in Period 1. This would be the only point for Zach Werenski in this opening game.  Elvis Merzlikins was fantastic in the net, doing all he could to keep his team in the game. That said, Team U.S.A would score three goals in Period 2, breaking the 1-1 tie the period started with. Team U.S.A would score one more goal in Period 3 to seal their 5-1 win.  Team Latvia will host Team Germany on Saturday at 6:00 p.m., and the game will be on Peacock.  Team Germany will then host Team U.S.A on Sunday at 3:00 p.m., and that game will also be on Peacock.   As always, I wish both our Blue Jackets luck in their next game! 

With the way our Blue Jackets played tonight at home, you'd have no idea that they played last night, on the road at the New Jersey Devils, and won 3-0. Tonight, Elvis Merzlikins would sit on the bench following his first shutout of the season, and Jet Greaves would hold the home net. The transition would be seamless. The Blue Jackets would lead shots on goal, 8-5, and Jet Greaves wouldn't let any of those 5 Blackhawks shots past him. The Blackhawks couldn't say the same for goaltender Spencer Knight. Mr. Team U.S.A., Zach Werenski, would get the scoring started for the Blue Jackets at 4:46, marking goal number twenty of his season! With the primary assist, Cole Sillinger would also add his twentieth assist to his season, while Charlie Coyle continues his impressive season with assist number twenty-six with the secondary. Then, at 12:50, the defenseman would double it up to give the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead! The goal would become the sixth this season for Ivan Provorov. Adam...

The slow start would be worth the wait for us tonight in New Jersey, 5th Line. Period 1 would end with 7 shots on goal for the Devils, and only three for the Blue Jackets. Period 2 would end with ten shots on goal for the Devils and nine for the Blue Jackets. No goals would come from any of these! Although both goalies, Elvis Merzlikins for the Blue Jackets and Jacob Markstrom for the Devils, there wasn't much going on in this game until Period 3, when the Blue Jackets would come to life.  With no assists on the goal, Dante Fabbro would finally break the 0-0 score at 5:24! Then, at 12:05, Mathieu Olivier would give the Blue Jackets a two-goal cushion with his seventh goal this season! Cole Sillinger gets the first primary assist of the night, and Boone Jenner gets the first secondary assist of the night, putting each man at nineteen this season. Then, towards the end of the game, things would get interesting in favor of Mathieu Oliver and the Blue Jackets! The Devils would bring go...

Tonight's game was full of goals, so we're going to skip my (at times corny) intro and jump right into the recap! The visiting Blue Jackets would kill off an early Blues' power play after Cole Sillinger went to the box at 2:41 for holding Oskar Sundqvist. However, a few minutes later, at even strength, the Blues would still be the first team to score. At 7:11, Jimmy Snuggerud would add goal nine to his season, giving Brayden Schenn his eleventh assist on the primary and Dalibor Dvorsky his sixth assist on the secondary. The good news is that while the Blues arena was still announcing the Blues' goal, the Blue Jackets tied the game at 1-1! Isac Lundestrom would score his second this season at 7:48. Captain Boone Jenner adds his eighteenth assist on the primary, and Miles Wood would find his way back to the scoresheet with his fifth assist this season on the secondary. This would be followed up a few minutes later, at 12:54, with Denton Mateychuk shooting his shot and get...

It's surprising to me that we're already playing our last game in January and have just three more after tonight before the 2026 Winter Olympic Break. One Blue Jacket who has shown bright this month is Charlie Coyle. Before tonight's game, he had a 6-4-10 month and received his golden NHL stick for his 1,000th game in the league. In our last game, at home against the Philadelphia Flyers, he scored the first goal. Tonight, on the road against the Chicago Blackhawks, he'd score the first goal again! This goal would be his thirteenth this season, and it would hit the back of the Blackhawks net at 19:13. Even better, this would be a power play goal as Blackhawks' Connor Murphy sat in the box for holding Kirill Marchenko late in the opening period. Zach Werenski would add his thirty-ninth assist on this first goal of the game with the primary, while the secondary assist would become the twenty-sixth for Kirill Marchenko. The Blue Jackets would hold the lead for a few sec...

 The Blue Jackets would waste no time on the National TNT Broadcast tonight. Charlie Coyle would continue his spotlight week with yet another goal, his twelfth this season, just 00:38 into the game! The primary assist would get Mathieu Oliver on the scoresheet with his eighth this season, while Zach Werenski continues his domination with assist number thirty-seven this season on the secondary. It would take nearly half the period before the Blue Jackets would allow the Flyers to get on the ice, but when they did, the Flyers would tie the game at 1-1 after Travis Konecny scored goal number eighteen of his season. The goal, at 9:03, would give Cam York his eighteenth assist this season on the primary, while Noah Juulsen would add his eighth assist on the secondary. The opening period wouldn't end in a tie as Kirill Marchenko would score at 19:40! Another primary assist for Zach Werenski would give him thirty-eighth this season, and yet another multipoint game. Adam Fantilli picks up ...