After CBJ wins, we’ll give three takeaways about what stood out or what we’ll remember from the Blue Jackets’ victory.
BLUE JACKETS 5, PENGUINS 4 (SHOOTOUT)
1. In a crazy game, the Blue Jackets showed their resilience yet again.
Saturday night had just about everything – eight goals, two reviews, a fight, some dramatic saves and, finally, a shootout.
And considering just how back-and-forth it was, one of the key factors that allowed the Blue Jackets to leave Pittsburgh with a rare win was how the Blue Jackets kept their heads on their shoulders.
That might sound a little crazy considering Columbus led by a 4-2 score with 10 minutes to go, then proceeded to do exactly what you don’t want to do in that situation. The Blue Jackets took back-to-back penalties, leading to a power-play goal by Kris Letang that cut the lead to one, before the Penguins got an extra-attacker tally to tie it with 3:06 to go.
Columbus had largely dominated the puck throughout – they had a 36-15 advantage in shots on goal at 5-on-5 – but the late penalties allowed the Penguins to get back in the game and got PPG Paints Arena rocking.
So, yes, that wasn’t ideal, and what did most CBJ fans think after Bryan Rust’s tying goal? Likely: Well, we’ve seen this movie before, and we don’t like the ending.
But it wasn’t over, in large part because the Blue Jackets stuck with it. It wasn’t always perfect – see Ivan Provorov’s heroic save of a shot off the line in overtime – but the Jackets had their chances as well before Kent Johnson, Adam Fantilli and Kirill Marchenko went good morning, good afternoon and good night in the shootout. It marked just the fourth time in team history the Jackets went 3-for-3 in a shootout and the first since 2011.
“I think there’s some perseverance obviously by the group,” head coach Dean Evason said. “Our commitment was fantastic, and our composure was good when it could have went sideways again. They held their composure, and we were able to get the job done.”
2. There were several CBJ standouts in this one, but how about the play of Yegor Chinakhov and Dmitri Voronkov?
As the Blue Jackets were summoned for postgame questions in the PPG Paints Arena locker room, two players made sense to chat.
There was Dmitri Voronkov, whose sixth career two-goal game was a huge part of the victory. And then there was Yegor Chinakhov, who was a healthy scratch to start the season but has built his game over the past few contests and put the Blue Jackets ahead in the third period with his first tally of the season.
There’s also the little issue of Voronkov not speaking much English, so Chinakhov did double duty. First, he answered questions about his game, then he served as a translator for Voronkov.
As for Chinakhov, his play has taken a notable step up in the past few contests. After he notched a single shot on goal in his first two contests after stepping in for the injured Miles Wood, Chinakhov has nine in the last three games, and his wired wrist shot past goalie Arturs Silovs just 1:55 into the third period put the Jackets up 3-2. It was vintage Chinakhov, who has the quick release and heavy shot to beat goalies clean from almost anywhere in the offensive zone.
“I like scoring,” Chinakhov said. “It feels great. I love the hockey, so I just try to be better every day.”
