Buffalo Sabers @ Columbus Blue Jackets: 2022-23 NHL Season Game 24 Recap

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 Line fans a dose of reality.  T. Thompson would again score, his fifth of the night, at 16:07.  P. Krebs would score then at 17:19 and A, Tuch would score at 19:16.  9-2...Sabers lead, heading into just Period 3.  

When the team would take the ice again, Korpisalo would again take the net.  This seemed smart to me, Merzlikins played last night and honest, the first few goals were so hard and fast without much protection, I don't place much of the blame for that early Sabers lead on him.  (Note how I said most, not all, because in no way did this whole team play its best tonight.)  That being said, the team didn't give up, like it did in Florida last season in that 9-2 road loss.  How can I possibly say this?  Patrik Laine would then score his sixth goal of the season, at 4:47.  Assists on this goal would go to Vladislav Gavrikhov, his fifth of this season and Yegor Chinakhov, his eighth of this season.  9-3 Sabers lead.  About midway through the period, Sean Kuraly would get in a tangle with a Saber, resulting in a misconduct for him and a minor penalty for the Sabers player.  This would give the Sabers a Power Play, which the Blue Jackets would kill.  Later on, after this, the Blue Jackets would prove that they weren't done scoring yet.  Gus Nyquist would net his second of the game, sixth of the season, at 15:49.  Only one assist on this goal and it would go to Marcus Bjork, his fourth assist of the season.  Now, 9-4 Sabers lead.  This would, ultimately, be the final.      

Was this game painful?  At times, a resounding yes.  However, last season we lost to a strong Panthers team, in Florida, 9-2.  At least in this 9-4 loss the Blue Jackets continued to fight, even when down 9-2 going into Period 3.  It also wasn't a shutout.  That being said, there was no one player at fault.  This was just a team which truly outplayed us.  It's also a nice reminder that at no point should a player, coach, team or fan base go into a game and underestimate their opponent.  We beat the Sabers the last few times and tonight, they beat us.  Is it hard to swallow?  Yes.  Did we fight back?  I'm happy to say we did.  This season we've been down just a few goals and just stopped, so to see this team try when down by 7, I'll take as something to highlight tonight.  

Also, before we start blaming the Goalies, remember that the Goalies don't create the 2- or 3-man rushes, or score.  They guard the net, that's it.  When a shot is sent, they read the player they think might score, sometimes their right, other times their not.  Main takeaway here, don't leave the goalie defenseless, literally!   Could a couple of those 9 goals been stopped?  Sure.  All?  No.  Korpisalo and Merzlikins needed help tonight, which just wasn't there for most of this game.  

So, where do we go from here?  Friday night.  The Calgary Flames, Johnny Gaudreau's former team, comes from Canada to Columbus.  7:00 PM puck drop and don't forget; this is the night of the CBJ TOY DRIVE!  Bring an unused, unwrapped toy to the game and I do believe, you get a vulture for tickets to another, 2 tickets if I've read the posts correct.  Of course, check this before you do or buy anything on the official Blue Jackets website or social media pages!  

Don't stop Be-Laine 5th Line.  (Hopefully my lame Journey joke make ya smile.)  We'll talk soon, think about it this way, can only go up from here.    

Go CBJ!