The CBJ Writer

I hope you all had a great holiday, but now it's time to get back to what we love, some CBJ Hockey! The extended holiday break is now over for the Columbus Blue Jackets.  (Much respect and support to the Buffalo area and the Sabers, who we were meant to play Tuesday but was postponed due to the devastating winter weather. Period 1 of tonight's game would end with a knotted 0-0 tie.  Each team had one chance on the Powerplay, but both would result in no goals being scored.  The Blue Jackets and the Islanders also had other great possibilities, but with both goaltenders locked in, the first goal would require some significant work.   Said first goal of this game would come, but sadly, it would not be ours.  J. Pageau would get one past Joonas Korpisalo at 7:12.  Before this period would end, M. Barzal would also score a Powerplay goal at 16:39.  This would put the Blue Jackets at a 2-0 deficit after 40 minutes of gameplay.   This was true throughout the game, but as Bob McElligot

Well, tonight wasn't the most amazing performance for the Columbus Blue Jackets.  However, there were a couple bright spots.  So, without further stalling, let's recap this final game before the Christmas holiday break.  With Daniil Tarasov in the visitor's net, it's time to get this pre-holiday break party started! Period 1 wouldn't have much for me to recap.  This period would have just two goals, and both would belong to the Blackhawks.  The first, no surprise here, would be from P. Kane at 13:28.  Believe it or not, though, he wouldn't be the highest-scoring player on this Blackhawks team.  You would know who that is, 5th Line, as he was once a Blue Jacket.  M. Domi (Max) would have goal two of this period, coming at 16:00 on the nose, which is a bit freaking considering he was number 16 while here!  11 goals this young 2022-23 NHL season for him, and suddenly, the Blue Jackets end Period 1 down 2-0.   For how underwhelming Period 1 was for this Blue Jackets

Period 1 tonight in Philidelphia would result in just one goal, and in favor of the home team, coming from T. Konecny at 13:48.  The score after twenty minutes would be a manageable 1-0 Flyers lead.   Period 2 would be a far more competitive and fun game to watch and/or listen to.  At 5:58, Kirill Marchenko would get the Blue Jackets on the board and tie the game up at 1-1.  Jake Christensen would gain his second assist on this goal for the season, while Eric Robinson would gain his seventh.  This goal would be quickly followed by another from Kent Johnson.  At 8:41, his eight of this season would be scored and put the Blue Jackets up 2-1.  Johnny Gaudreau would tack on yet another assist, taking him up to twenty-four already, while Andrew Peeke would tack on number three of his season.  Unfortunately, the Flyers would see our 2-1 lead and raise it.  With a goal from M. Frost at 10:04 and another from O. Tippett at 14:18, the Flyers would again retake the lead 3-2.   Early in the third

This game started with developments long before the Columbus Blue Jackets and Dallas Stars took the ice.  Earlier today, the team updated us about Boone Jenner.  While on the road, Captain Boone Jenner suffered a fractured thumb.  With Surgery coming in the next few days, he's expected to miss about a month.  This unfortunate situation creates more opportunity for yet another player to step up, in this case, we learned this opportunity on Line 1 would go to Kent Johnson.  This wouldn't be the only surprise about this specific line tonight.  Johnny Gaudreau would skate on the ice tonight, in his new home of Nationwide Arena, with an "A" on his Safelite Jersey.  How's that for a surprise 5th Line?  So, with this changed Line and a player with a new letter set, it was time to play an anticipated game.   Period 1 would end with a 0-0 draw.  Both teams had chances, but neither would take advantage of them.  The main story from this period is yet another Blue Jackets in

Period 1 of this game would yield just one goal, in favor of the Lightning.  At 3:57 P. Bellemare would score goal one for his season and team.  The Blue Jackets would fight back, but just not find the net this period.  The end result was a 1-0 Lightning lead at home.  In this period the Tarasov save where he jumped the length of the net, then caught the puck in his hand...truly if you didn't see this save, go look it up.  It might be the best save of his NHL career thus far, I know it's a loaded compliment but just trust me, it was.    Period 2 would, again, yield just a single goal.  This time, however, that goal would belong to your Blue Jackets' 5th Line!  At 3:10 Kirill Marchenko would score goal number two of his first NHL Season.  This gives him a goal in his last two games as well, very exciting.  The Primary assist would be Cole Sillinger's fourth this season, while the secondary assist would go to Erik Gudbranson, his seventh this season.  With no goals beyond

Well, a few weeks ago we beat the Florida Panthers in Nationwide Arena 5-3.  So, naturally, some payback was in order.  At 9:04 B. Montour would score, but that would be the only goal of this period, resulting in a single goal Panthers lead.   However, in Period 2, that Panthers lead would expand.  At 3:47, M. Tkachuk would score, giving his team a 2-0 lead.  A few minutes later, the refs would rule another goal by the Panthers, but it would be revversed after a very quick review corrected this error.  The score would remain a 2-0 Panthers lead, but in the last seconds at 19:16, A. Barkov would score that third goal for his panthers.  3-0 Panthers lead at this point, as we head into the third.   The scoring would hold off until 18:14, when S. Reinhart would score, making it a 4-0 Panthers lead.  This goal would be an empty net situation.  This 4-0 would be the unfortunate final, as the Panthers would shut us out in their building, payback complete.   This wasn't a good game, sad bu

If there is anything better than Blue Jackets hockey, it's hearing the score twice on your way home from work, in the car.  Period 1 would see two goals, and both would be scored by the home, Columbus Blue Jackets team.  The first would come 6:44 and be very special, as we'd watch Kirill Marchenko score his very first NHL Goal!  One assist on this goal and it would go to Kent Johnson, his eight this season.  This would be quickly followed by that second Blue Jackets goal I stated above, this one coming at 9:28 by Boone Jenner.  The Captain now has ten goals this season, so far.  The primary assist on this goal goes to Jack Roslovic, his tenth this season and Johnny Gaudreau gets the secondary assist, his twentieth of this season.   The L.A. Kings wouldn't score this period, leading to that 2-0 advantagge for the Blue Jackets, heading into the second.   Period 2 would see many goals.  A. Kopiter would score to the Kings at 4:42, then his teammate B. Lizotte would score at 8:

It's time, Johnny "Hockey" Gaudreau's former team traveled to Columbus and tonight, we got to see the first of what will be many games between the two newly structured teams.  Joonas Korpisalo would take net for the Blue Jackets and with Jacub Markstrom in the net for the flames, this party in Nationwide Arena would get underway.  Period 1 would only see a single goal, and it would belong to us 5th Line!  Patrik Laine with his seventh goal of the season and third in the last two games, would come at just 1:02 into the game.  Assists would go to Jack Roslovic, his nineth of this season and Yegor Chinakhov, his nineth of the season too.  This would put the Blue Jackets up 1-0 after the first 20 minutes of play.   Period 2 would lead to some questions however, ones we still don't quite have answers to and personally, I'm not looking forward to them.  Elvis Merzlikins would lead the team out onto the ice for this second period of play.  No one was aware, but Joona

Period 1: D. Cozens at 3:21 T. Thompson at 5:32 R. Dahlin at 7:28. Sadly, at this point with the Buffalo Sabers up 3-0, Joonas Korpisalo would lose his control over the Columbus Blue Jackets net. Elvis Merzlikins, who played last night, would take over.  Then...   T. Thompson would then take control scoring at 7:40, 12:22 and 16:40.  That would make the game a 6-0 score, in favor of the Buffalo Sabers.  4 of those 6 goals coming from one player alone, T. Thompson.   Period 2 would start out with a bang, finally, which was desperately needed.  At 10:49, Patrik Laine would come away with his fifth goal of this season.  Assist on this goal would go to Jack Roslovic alone, his eight this season.  This would be followed by another Blue Jackets score, this time from Gus Nyquist at 12:04.  Johnny Gaudreau would gain his nineteenth assist, while Captain Boone Jenner would notch his tenth.  At this point, giving the Sabers a game seemed plausible, but then...the Sabers would give us hopeful 5th

A trip to Pitsburgh to face the Penguins is always a fun, rivalry challenge.  Period 1 would start out with a Blue Jackets bang, thanks to the one and only Johnny "Hockey" Gaudreau!  At just 1:00 into the game, he'd set a goal home.  Assist on this goal would go to the equally talented Patrik Laine.  This is Gaudreau's ninth goal of this season and Laine's third assist this season.  Amazing enough, this would be the only goal all period, giving the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead.   However, the Penguins would make the Blue Jackets pay for that early goal.  B. Rust would score at 1:15, then S. Crosby would follow up with two goals, one at 2:02 and a second at 10:14.  An interference call would give the Penguins a chance at a fourth goal, but thankfully the penalty shot given to T. Blueger would be no match for Goaltender Elvis Merzlikins.   The Penguins would lead at the end of this period by a 3-1 score.   That 3-1 score would hold for much off the third period.  Eventua

Even with a goal at 6:34 by A. Czarnik and another at 17:36, by D. Kubalik, the Blue Jackets were giving the Red Wings a decent fight.  However, the Red Wings would lead 2-0 after Period 1.   Period 2 would start off with yet another Red Wings goal, this one from L. Raymond at 7:03.  Then, the Blue Jackets would break though at 16:10, with Marcus Bjork's second goal of his 2022-23 NHL Season!  An eight assist to Captain Boone Jenner and a seventh assist on the season going to Jack Roslovic.  So, this period would end with a 3-1 Red Wings lead.   Period 3 would continue the interesting evening.  At 1:59 the Blue Jackets would come within a goal of the Red Wings, thanks to Kent Johnson's sixth goal of this season!  Assists on this goal would go to Johnny Gaudreau, who is already up to eighteen this first season as a Blue Jacket.  Secondary assist would go to Boone Jenner, his eighth of this season.  After this a shocking moment would happen.  The Red Wings would score, but Head C

It's electric when the Columbus Blue Jackets travel to Winnipeg with Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic, the two players we gained in the trade for Perre-Luc Dubois in 2021.  Believe it or not, that trade wasn't very long ago, although it seems like Laine and Roslovic have been here forever now, due to their impact on the Blue Jackets Team.  This was very true tonight as Laine returned from his sprained ankle and Roslovic has a highlight moment of his own too.  Lett's recap! Period 1 would open with a Blue Jackets goal in Winnipeg, coming at 6:48 by Patrik Laine, his third of the year!  Johnny Gaudreau would feed him the puck for this opening goal, gaining his fifteenth assist on the season so far.  Then, at 10:42, Eric Gudbranson would finally get to pick up goal one of his 2022-23 NHL Season with the Blue Jackets.  Assists on this goal would go to Jack Roslovic, his sixth of the season and Kent Johnson, his seventh of the season.  This is how the period would end, 2-0 Blue Ja

It's been a huge day for this franchise.  First, we have two big names back from that pesky Injury Reserve List, which has been too long all season.  Patrik Laine will return, but we're still unsure if he'll be in the lines tomorrow night, as he returns to his former home arena when the Blue Jackets play the Winnipeg Jets. Just a reminder, with them being in Canada, this game starts at 8:00 PM.  Elvis Merzlikins will also be back, but again nothing has been mentioned anywhere about if he'll see the net tomorrow evening. Regardless, it's great to see them both back! The other great news is in the future, likely next season at the soonest, but who cares!  The Blue Jackets have signed two very impressive 2022 Draft Picks this afternoon.  First up was Luca Del Bel Belluz.  He's playing his fourth season with the Mississauga Stealheads.  In his 21 games this season he's already scored 13 goals and 13 assists, putting him at 26 points this season so far.  This lea