The Blue Jackets desperately need to win a game, and they got it behind outstanding goaltending and timely scoring.
The Columbus Blue Jackets absolutely had to take advantage of a depleted Lightning team on Saturday. They did beat them, but it wasn't easy, even if they were missing Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Kent Johnson(1), Damon Severson(1), and Kirill Marchenko(5) provided the offense for Columbus, while goalie Jet Greaves earned his first win of the season by stopping 22 Tampa shots on Saturday night.
After the first period, it was looking like it was going to be the same old CBJ, but they would score in the second and third to steal a win from a struggling Tampa Bay team. The Jackets even had yet another goal called back, this time for offsides, when defenseman Jake Christiansen BARELY let the puck escape from the offensive zone. It was realllllllly close.
In other news, the special teams were not all that special yet again.
The Blue Jackets survived to pick up their first home ice win this season in front of the Nationwide Arena faithful.
The win gives them 4 points, with a record of 2-3-0.
Final Stats
CBJ APPPlayer Stats
- Kent Johnson scored his first goal of the season.
- Kirill Marchenko scored his 5th goal.
- Damon Severson scored his first goal of the season.
- Zach Werenski had an assist, his third of the season.
- Boone Jenner recorded his 3rd assist of the season.
- Adam Fantilli got his second assist.
- Charlie Coyle recorded his second assist as a Blue Jacket.
- Mathieu Olivier got an assist and had a big fight.
- Jey Greaves stopped 22 of 24 Lightning shots.
Team Stats
- The Jackets' power play went 0/2 against the Lightning.
- The Columbus PK two of three Bolts power plays.
- Columbus won 57.1% of the faceoffs
Up Next: The Blue Jackets travel to Dallas to take on the Stars on Tuesday night.
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