Boston Bruins @ Columbus Blue Jackets: 2024-25 NHL Season Game 36

I hope you all had or are having a wonderful holiday season. If you wanted to see Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins battle against each other in Nationwide Arean, you got a late Christmas gift tonight! I know I sure did. I love both goalies and tonight was sure to be a fun competition, but once the goaltender matchup was announced, this game got even better!

The game would start out with a bang, literally, as the cannon would fire after Sean Monahan scored the first goal on the powerplay at 11:29! Zach Weerenski and Kirill Marchenko continue their battle for who has the most assists this season. With this goal, the two men continue their tie at twenty-fire each this season. Of course, this is the Bruins, so they would answer at 15:13 with a goal from P. Zacha. This goal would be his ninth this season. D. Pastrnak would add his twenty-fourth assist this season. This would be the period's final goal, leaving the teams tied at 1-1 after the opening period of play. 

The Jackets would have a landslide of scoring in the second period. Their first goal would come from Adam Fantilli at 7:00 and it would be his seventh goal this season! Dimitri Foronkov would enter the double-digit club by adding his tenth assist this season with the primary assist while Ivan Provorov adds his eleventh assist with the secondary. Next, Sean Monahan would start a hattrick watch with his second goal of the night at 8:13! Zach Werenski would take over the assist race with his twenty-sixth this season with the primary while the secondary would be credited to Dante Fabbro and would become his fifth. But, wait, we're not done, the Jackets would go up 4-1 on yet another powerplay goal at 9:47! Dimitri Voronkov would score his eleventh goal of the season; Kent Johnson would add his eleventh assist with the primary and Zach Werenski would add his twenty-seventh assist this season. But, wait, we're still not done! Dimitri Voronkov would enter the hattrick watch at 19:14 with his twelfth goal of the season and his second powerplay goal of the period! Kirill Marchenko would add his twenty-sixth assist this season with the primary while Zach Werenski would add his twenty-eight this season and third assist tonight! So, after four unanswered goals, the Jackets would pull a 5-1 lead into the final period! 

Another Jackets goal would come at 3:04 from Kirill Marchenko, giving him fourteen goals this season! This would make the game a 6-1 Jackets lead, too! Mikael Pyyhtia would add his second assist this season with the primary and Jack Johnson would add his second this season with the secondary. The Bruins would get one back, making the game 6-2, at 4:08. The goal would become number ten this season from C. Coyle. E. Lindholm would add his thirteenth assist this season with the primary assist while the secondary would become number sixteen this season for B. Marchand. There would be no empty net, but the Jackets would claim the 6-2 win and two points! 

Tonight's Third Star of the Night was Sean Monahan who had a 2-0-2. 

Tonight's Second Star of the Night was Dimitri Voronkov who had a 2-1-3. 

Tonight's First Star of the Game was Zach Werenski who had a 0-4-4. 

The powerplay finished 3/3, and I don't know if I've typed that since I started covering this team in 2020! Elvis Merzlikins came through in the final minutes, especially when the Bruins had a powerplay. He finished with a .920 save percentage, accomplishing this with 23 stops on the visiting Bruins 25 shots on his net. It was an incredible night. 

Tomorrow will be a true test of how this teams improving, though, as the Jackets will be the ones traveling. The Jackets will travel to Boston to face the Bruins in TD Garden; not an easy venue to play in, especially when you beat the home team by four goals in your own the night before! The puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. and I have no doubt it'll be another exhilarating game! 

One last note, congratulations to Sean Monahan on not just his 2-0-2 night and his Third Star of the Game, but also on playing his 800th NHL Career Game, too! 

GO CBJ! 






 

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