Blue Jackets Lack Of Offense Spoils Great Game By Cam Talbot, Wild Beats Columbus

Adam Fantilli(2) scored the only goal of the game for the Blue Jackets, assisted by Werenski and Monahan, and it would prove to be too little against a very good Minnesota Wild team. 

Goalie Cam Talbot played well, making 32 saves. 29 of those saves came in the first two periods and kept the Jackets in the game. Cam Talbot deserved a better fate in this game, but the Wild defense just shut everything the Blue Jackets tried to do down. 

Rick Bowness -  “Was the effort there? Yeah, it was. We worked very hard. It’s the execution. We couldn’t get any flow going to the game. That would be the biggest disappointment is the execution.”

First Period - CBJ Goal - Fantilli | Wild Goal - Yurov

The first period was scoreless until Danila Yurov stole the puck from Carson Soucy and drove down the ice on a two-on-one with Yakov Trenin. The two went back and forth until Yurov put it past Cam Talbot. 

A minute after the Wild goal, the Blue Jackets were on a delayed penalty and put Adam Fantilli on the ice as the extra attacker. Fantilli let a shot go from distance that snuck through the body of Jesper Wallstedt to tie the game at two. 

Columbus had one failed power play attempt in the period. 

Second Period - Wild Goal - Kaprizov

Kirill Kaprizov struck at the 3:06 mark while on the power play. He hung onto the puck, watching how Talbot was playing, and ripped a shot high past Talbot's shoulder to take a 2-1 lead. That was Kaprizov's league-leading 10th goal and would prove to be the game-winner. 

Columbus had another failed power play in the second period. 

Third Period - No Goals

The Wild would shut the game down in the third period, allowing just two Columbus shots. It wasn't an embarrassing game by any means, especially since it could've been much worse. 

Final Stats

Player Stats & Notes

Team Stats 

Next Up For Columbus: The Blue Jackets are back home on Tuesday to welcome back Kirill Marchenko and the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

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