Ottawa Senators @ Columbus Blue Jackets: 2024-25 NHL Season Game 76

A few special moments before we begin the recap tonight. First, congratulations to Meredith Gaudreau, her children, and the extended Gaudreau family on the birth of Carter Michael Gaudreau. I sigh in relief, knowing that he is here and both mom and baby are doing well. I love seeing the photos of him with his big sister, Noa, and brother, Johnny Jr. In addition, the fact Carter was the same size and weight as his dad when born could move you to tears, it has me. 

Another big moment tonight as the puck dropped; congratulations to Erik Gudbranson on game 800 of his NHL Career! He would have a point tonight, too, but I'm getting way ahead of myself! 

Yes, the cannon still works at Nationwide Arena, and it got a workout tonight! After being shut out at home and on the road, back-to-back, you can only go up, and the Blue Jackets rose to the occasion out of necessity tonight. Dimitri Voronkov would add goal twenty-one to his season, giving the Blue Jackets their first goal in three games and an early 1-0 lead. Mathieu Olivier would have the only assist on this goal, his thirteenth this season. Justin Danforth would double the lead, 2-0, with goal nine of his season at 16:36. Denton Mateychuk would add the primary to his season's total, giving him eight, while Sean Kuraly would add the secondary to his season, giving him eleven. The Blue Jackets would close out the opening period, leading 2-0. What a turn-around after this weekend, but they still had forty minutes to play. 

Period two would open with F Zetteriund scoring on a Senator's powerplay at 16:16. This would become goal eighteen of his season. The primary assist would be number thirty-fourth this season for C. Giroux, while the secondary would be number thirty-three this season for T. Chabot.  Mathieu Olivier would continue his best NHL season with goal eighteen of his season at 19:38, giving his home team back their two-goal advantage at home. This would give Oliver a multipoint night as well as Justin Danforth, who picked up assist number eleven this season with the primary, while Erik Gudbranson, Mr. 800th NHL Game, would pick up his second assist on the secondary. The Blue Jackets would wrap up the rest of the period, keeping the Senators at bay and keeping their 3-1 lead. 

A Blue Jackets powerplay would yield Sean Monahan's eighteenth goal this season at 2:37. Kent Johnson would gain his twenty-ninth assist on the primary while Zach Werenski would add his fifty-fifth on the secondary. Adam Fantilli quickly followed this up with goal twenty-five of his season at 11:42. Kent Johnson added his second primary assist in as many goals, his thirtieth this season on the primary, while Ivan Provorov would add his twenty-fourth this season on the secondary. The Senators would gett one more back from T, Chabot, his seventh this season, giving him a multipoint night. D. Batherson would gain assist forty on the primary assist while D. Parron would add his seventh this season on the secondary. The Blue Jackets would stay strong after that goal by the Senators, though, going on to win 5-2! 

The Third Star of the Game would go to Justin Danforth with a multipoint 1-1-2 night. 

The Second Star of the Game would go to Elvis Merzlikins, who needed a big night and would have one after stopping 32 of 33 Senators' shots on his net, finishing with a .941 save percentage.    

The First Star of the Game would go to Mathieu Olivier who finished with a multipoint night of 1-1-2 and was credited as having the Blue Jackets game-winning-goal! 

With this win, the Blue Jackets have 79 points and stay in the hunt, but they have to continue to win and gobble up points and also hope for losses from other teams, primarily the Montreal Canadians. They did, unfortunately, go on to win tonight, beating the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 at home. So, that doesn't help, but still we skate on because, until we're eliminated, we're not out! 

Our next chance to win and/or gain points will come on Thursday, at home, against the Buffalo Sabers, who have recently had a surge of goals and wins. The game will start at 7:00 p.m. 

GO CBJ!