Columbus Blue Jackets @ San Jose Sharks: 3/14/23 Game Recap

It's late-night hockey that technically lasts two days, 5th Line! The puck drop in San Jose was last night at 10:30, and this game flew. With 19 Shots on Goal from our Blue Jackets and 6 Shots on Goal by the Sharks, the first period alone had 25 total Shots on Goal. This proves both teams came out tonight ready to play some good hockey, and that's exactly what we got. The Sharks would draw the first score with a goal at 8:00, thanks to A. Barabanov and a Power Play 5 on 4 chance. The Sharks would keep their 1-0 lead until Johnny Gaudreau would add goal number sixteen to his 2022-23 NHL Season total! Patrik Laine would notch his twenty-fourth assist after having the primary assist on his linemate's goal. The secondary assist would go to Gavin Bayreuther, giving him seven this season. Even with some stunning Power Play chances for both teams, this 1-1 tie would hold until these 20 minutes of play were up.  

A Power Play would carry over, and with just 1 tick of the clock left before it ended, Kent Johnson would open the scoring in Period 2 at 1:54! This is Johnson's fourteenth goal of his first full NHL Season. The primary assist on his goal would be number forty-three for Johnny Gaudreau, who would already have a multipoint night at this point in the game! The secondary assist would be the first of the season for Goaltender Daniil Tarasov! (Talk about swallowing a scream because people in your house are asleep, let me tell you what!) A few minutes later, at 5:28, Captain Boone Jenner would match up with Patrik Laine; the two men currently tied for most goals at twenty-one this season! Johnny Gaudreau would pick up his second assist tonight on this goal, giving him forty-four on his first Blue Jackets Season. Eric Robinson would have the secondary assist, giving him eleven. The Blue Jackets 3-1 lead would hold until 10:24, when W. Eklund would score for the Sharks. Then, at 17:17, oh Captain, our CBJ Captain would score his second goal of the night! Also, for those keeping track, this Goal would mark his twenty-second this season and put him one ahead of Patrik Laine. The only assist on this goal would be Johnny Gaudreau, giving him forty-five assists this season so far! It also takes him up to a 4-point night with just over a period left to play this evening (1-3-4.) Gavin Bayreuther would also have an assist on this goal, his second tonight, which takes him up to eight. A shocker would happen at 19:59 the Blue Jackets lead would shrink to just 1 goal after a quick shot by L. Couture. The Shark Captain would make this game interesting as we'd head into Period 3 with a 4-3 Blue Jackets lead. 

 At just 3:20 into Period 3, Liam Foudy would get himself on the score sheet tonight for the Blue Jackets! This is his fourth goal this season, and lately, he's been hot with finding the opponent's net. The primary assist on this goal goes to Mathieu Olivier, giving him nine this season. The secondary assist would go to Nick Blankenburg, who now has nine assists. K. Labanc would score at 5:53, which would take us to a 5-4 single-goal advantage for the Blue Jackets, a spot they found themselves in many times tonight! Unfortunately, the 5-3 Blue Jackets lead would be short-lived, as they would kill off the Power Play, just to be scored on seconds after. Just under six minutes later, the Sharks would come all the way back to match the Blue Jackets 5 total goals this game. At 11:20, N. Knyzcov would score, and we'd be knotted at 5-5. This score would hold until the Period's end, taking us to bonus next-day hockey! You're already up, right, 5th Line? 

Overtime would be a nail bitter, which would come down to the very end! However, Johnny Gaudreau would put away this game and seal his 2-3-5 point grab night. This marks his seventeenth goal this season at 4:17. The only assist on this goal would belong to the man we all wanted to see him play with in Columbus most; Patrik Laine. This marks a milestone of twenty-five assists for him this season, too. A huge and historic 6-5 Blue Jackets win tonight in San Jose. 

Huge Moments Tonight:

Patrik Laine, with 0-2-2, now has a six-game point streak. 

Boone Jenner, with 2-0-2, now has the lead for most goals this season at twenty-two total. 

Gavin Bayreuther, with 0-2-2, had his first NHL Multipoint Game tonight. 

Johnny Gaudreau, with 2-3-5, had his highest point night since joining the Blue Jackets. 

Daniil Tarasov, with 0-1-1, had his first assist of the season tonight and also won the game in net. He also had 43 saves on 48 Sharks shots.  

Busy big night 5th line, no doubt! With his 5-point night, Johnny Gaudreau was the First Star of Tonight's Game. With 2 goals tonight, Captain Boone Jenner would be the Third Star of the Game. 

Our next game is technically tomorrow, Thursday, March 16th. The puck drop is set for 10:30 PM EST against the L.A. Kings. As if playing them in their arena isn't enough, we could also see our Blue Jackets face their most recently departed Goaltender, Joonas Korpisalo. I hope he isn't in L.A.'s net because he's currently undefeated since joining the team, 3-0-0. His latest win was tonight, against the New York Islanders, leading his new team to a 5-2 win. So, if we face him, it should be an exciting matchup, especially since the Blue Jackets were his only NHL Team until just a couple weeks ago. Advantage Korpi? We'll see! 

Go CBJ!