Bloodied and battered, Blue Jackets pull away from Flames in third to win (original) (raw)

CALGARY — It has been a struggle for the Columbus Blue Jackets to close out third-period leads this season, and they got bloodied pretty badly down the stretch Thursday against the Calgary Flames.

But despite losing defenseman Adam Boqvist to a freak accident on the bench and forward Jack Roslovic to a questionable hit by Calgary’s Jonathan Huberdeau, the Blue Jackets pulled away late for a 5-2 victory in Scotiabank Saddledome.

Huberdeau’s five-minute boarding call — he drilled Roslovic from behind with 8:32 remaining — put the Jackets on a five-minute power play with a 3-2 lead to protect. They not only scored an insurance goal on the power play, but they also chewed up most of the remaining clock.

Huberdeau was given a game misconduct for boarding on Roslovic, who went to the locker room pic.twitter.com/vr89o1Rjgr

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 26, 2024

“We just kept playing,” Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. “We’re learning to play in those moments, and tonight was a good experience for us.

“We played the proper way. We played with confidence and supported each other.”

Just two nights earlier, the Jackets gave up three third-period goals and lost 4-1 at the Edmonton Oilers. That’s been a recurring theme all season for Columbus, the NHL’s worst third-period team.

“It’s been (47 games) and we’ve been talking about our third periods since the start of the season,” Alexandre Texier said. “It was enough. We did a great job tonight.”

But it was not without pain.

Roslovic left the ice under his own power but was shown on TV replays with blood covering and running down his face as he passed through the bench area on his way to the dressing room.

Huberdeau, who also was tagged with a 10-minute game misconduct, might be facing supplemental discipline from the league Friday. The Flames were angry with Roslovic after he shoved Flames defenseman MacKenzie Weegar into the end boards earlier in the game.

Minutes before Roslovic was injured, Boqvist was struck in the face by a puck on the bench, sending him falling backward. After gathering himself, he walked with a trainer to the dressing room.

“I saw a tooth on the ground,” Vincent said. “I saw a lot of blood. There may have been more teeth, but I only saw one.”

Vincent said he did not have an update on either player’s condition.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli and Damon Severson all had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets, who won in regulation for the first time since Dec. 19. Goaltender Daniil Tarasov made 28 saves, including on 18 consecutive shots to end the game.

Texier (short-handed) and Dmitri Voronkov (power play) also scored goals for the Blue Jackets.

“We just had to find a way in the third period,” Severson said. “We ground it out most of the game. We had such a bad third period in Edmonton. That’s what hurt us in that game. But tonight we found a way and we got it done.

“We’ve been OK with being average for too long this year. (Vincent) has been talking about that, how we have to raise our standards.”

The Jackets were killing a penalty with the score tied 2-2 when Texier and Sean Kuraly headed the length of the ice with the puck. Texier fired from the right circle, but his shot clanged off the far post behind Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom.

The puck shot right back to Texier, however, and he gloved it, dropped it and fired it past Markstrom for a 3-2 lead at 6:33 of the second.

It was Texier’s seventh goal of the season, but the Blue Jackets’ first shorty of the campaign. They were the last team in the NHL this season to score a short-handed goal, but that’s not the half of it.

It had been 93 games — the longest stretch in franchise history — since the Blue Jackets last scored while short-handed. It occurred Dec. 31, 2022, when Gus Nyquist scored a short-handed goal in a win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

That’s where the lead stood until well into the third.

Roslovic was playing a puck along the wall by the Blue Jackets bench when Huberdeau took several strides to build speed and slam into his back. Roslovic’s head and face appeared to take most of the impact against the glass, and Huberdeau was immediately jumped by Jackets captain Boone Jenner.

On the ensuing power play, the Jackets pushed the lead to 4-2 when Fantilli’s pass from the slot found Voronkov in tight on Markstrom for a redirection. It was Voronkov’s 11th goal of the season.

“You have to get one there,” Severson said. “You don’t get them (five-minute power plays) very often.

“We lose Boqvist to a freak play there and then we lose Roslovic to a dirty hit. You have to get those when you get those chances. You have to bury one.”

Fantilli scored from about 90 feet away into an empty net to cap the scoring.

The Blue Jackets did not look particularly sharp in the first period, but they escaped the period with the score tied 2-2. They benefitted from two fortuitous bounces.

Only 2:50 into the game, Chinakhov carried the puck through the neutral zone and tried to dump the puck into the Flames’ zone. Instead, the puck struck an NHL official and kicked right back into Chinakhov’s skating path, allowing him a clean look at Markstrom.

With his backhand, Chinakhov slid the puck under the left pad of Markstrom for his 12th goal of the season.

At 11:48 of the first, Markstrom stepped below the goal line to play a puck behind his cage. He rimmed the puck along the wall, but right to Severson, who fired the puck in from a distance before Markstrom could get back into position.

Defenseman Zach Werenski returned to the Blue Jackets lineup for the first time since Dec. 27, missing 10 games with a high ankle sprain. He wasn’t eased back into the action, either, playing 25:13 with an assist and a plus-two rating.

To make room for Werenski, rookie David Jiricek was sent to AHL Cleveland.

(Photo of Dmitri Voronkov celebrating his goal: Sergei Belski / USA Today)

Aaron Portzline is a senior writer for The Athletic NHL based in Columbus, Ohio. He has been a sportswriter for more than 30 years, winning national and state awards as a reporter at the Columbus Dispatch. In addition, Aaron has been a frequent contributor to the NHL Network and The Hockey News, among other outlets. Follow Aaron on Twitter @Aportzline