Bemstrom scores a pair in OT loss
The Jackets went to Montreal and lost 4-3 in OT, extending their points streak to four games. The Jackets are 2-0-2 in those four games.
Emil Bemstrom scored two powerplay goals, and Jack Roslovic continued his good play this season. Roslovic scored on a beautiful pass from Johnny Gaudreau and had two assists.
Dmitri Voronkov, who made his NHL debut on Thursday had an interesting game. 4:39 into the game, Voronkov and Arber Xhekaj decided to fight after Xhekaj was boarded by Voronkov. Both players were called for 7 minutes in penalties. Later in the 2nd period, Voronkov recorded his first NHL point when he assisted on Bemstrom’s powerplay goal. Voronkov would finish the game with 9 penalty minutes, and 8:21 of time on ice. That's a quirky stat line.
Montreal went down 2-0 after the 1st period but never stopped fighting. Nick Suzuki scored 27 seconds into the 2nd period to cut the lead in half. At 19:34 of the 2nd, being down 3-1, Mike Matheson scored a powerplay goal to make it 3-2.
In the third period and overtime, the Habs made the Jackets pay for their mistakes. 7:48 into the 3rd period, Sean Monahan tied the game on yet another powerplay goal. The OT started with the CBJ on the powerplay which Montreal killed off. The Jackets had plenty of opportunities while it was 4 on 3 to win it, they just couldn’t beat Montembeault. Then with just 43 seconds left in the OT period, Cole Caufield scored on Elvis to win the game. That's back-to-back OT losses by the Jackets.
Here are three takeaways:
Too Many Penalties
The Blue Jackets are taking too many penalties. Thursday night the final count was 19 penalty minutes. Even without Voronkov’s fight, they still had 14, which is far too many. Against a young skilled team with guys like Suzuki and Caufield, this isn’t going to work, as seen on Thursday night. The CBJ are giving up an average of 3.5 powerplays a game. That needs to be corrected. Maybe it’s youth, maybe it’s discipline, either way, they need to get it under control.
Emil Bemstrom is playing well
Emil Bemstrom has three goals on the season, all of them have been powerplay goals. He’s been setting up in Ovi’s office and blasting shots at the opposing goalies, and it’s working. He only played 13:50 tonight, but he made it count, and he’s been doing it every night. He’s been visible and had a lot of scoring chances, and that’s how he needs to play every night. He’s had his fair share of detractors and plenty of people who would rather see him in Cleveland, but the fact of the matter is, he belongs in Columbus for the time being.
Jack Roslovic
Jack Roslovic is in the final year of his contract, so he needs to make a statement this year, and so far, he has. Unfortunately, Jack has had consistency issues since he’s been in Columbus. When he’s on, he looks elite. But when he’s off, he’s off. So far this season, he’s been on. He’s played in six games and has six points, consisting of 2 goals and 4 assists. Thursday, he took a pass from Gaudreau, through the crease, through traffic, and buried it. A very underrated play all around. The GameScore below shows how good Roslovic was against the Canadiens.
The Blue Jackets will now travel back home to take on the New York Islanders on Saturday night. The Isles beat the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night to move their record to 3-2-1. Ilya Sorokin was in the net for the Isles on Thursday and got the win. Sorokin has started in five of the Isles six games so far, so we could see Semyon Varlamov in goal. Either way, the Jackets will have to go up against a good goalie.
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