Columbus Exorcises More Than One Demon And Beats St. Louis At Enterprise Center
This game wasn't pretty by any stretch of the imagination. The Jackets had 8 giveaways, while the Blues had 10 and it seemed like an offensive struggle to get anything going. If you just look at the stats, it seemed like an even game all the way around. It was even alright, evenly rough to watch.
The game was scoreless into the third, and to be honest I don't think anyone thought either team would score a goal in regulation. The game had OT written all over it. But Dmitri Voronkov would come through 4:11 into the third to break the scoreless tie in what would turn out to be the game-winner. Johnny Gaudreau fed Zach Werenski a nice little pass after crossing into the Blues defensive zone, who then caught two Blues defenders flat-footed. He raced past them and fed a cross-ice pass to Voronkov who would beat Binnington for the score. That goal would hold for the next 15 minutes and the Jackets would win 1-0.
So, back to exorcising the demons. There are two things the Blue Jackets can't seem to do, shut out their opponents, and beat the Blues in St. Louis. On Tuesday night, they did both.
Elvis Merzlikins would blank the Blues to record the 10th shutout of his career, joining four other CBJ goalies to record 10 clean sheets. It was the first Columbus shutout in 747 days, a little over two years. Insane to think that they haven't been able to hold another team scoreless.
With the win tonight, it marks just the 12th win all-time in St. Louis. Yes, you read that right, the 12th win ever in St. Louis, a series that goes back to 2000. The CBJ record playing in St. Louis is now 12-31-1-3. This was their first win in the STL since the 2018-19 season and just their third win since the 2014-15 season. This is also just the second time they've swept the season series against St. Louis, the other in 2014.
Enterprise Center has truly been a House of Horrors for this franchise.
Final Stats
cbj appPlayer Notes
- Dmitri Voronkov scored his 12th goal of the season. He now has 25 points on the season.
- Zach Werenski tallied his 27th assist on the season and has 28 points. He has assisted in 3 of the 4 games since his return from injury. Werenski is also now 3rd all-time in CBJ history in assists. He led all Jackets with 24:19 of ice time.
- Johnny Gaudreau picked up his 25th assist and 32nd point on the season. He now has a 3-game point streak and has 7 points in his last 8 games.
- Elvis Merzlikins stopped all 21 shots by St Louis. He became the 5th CBJ goalie to record 10 shutouts, joining Sergei Bobrovsky (33), Steve Mason (19), Marc Denis (12) and Pascal Leclaire (10).
Team Notes
- The CBJ PP went 0 for 2.
- The Jackets PK went 3 for 3 on the kill.
- Columbus had an abnormally high 8 giveaways against the Blues.
More From THN Columbus
Join Jason Newland's Columbus Blue Jacket page on Bunches, a new app that connects sports fans. Also, you can watch a new YouTube game show about the Blue Jackets, Around the Fifth Line.