Powered By A Kirill Marchenko Hat Trick, The Jackets Go Into Buffalo And Score 9 Goals
When the Sabres scored thirty seconds into the first period, CBJ fans sighed collectively. Surely there's no way the game would be like this.
But the Blue Jackets started their scoring at 10:35 of the first and refused to look back. And they continued scoring every few minutes until the score was 7-1. Kyle Okposo scored with just over a minute left in the second to make it 7-2. In the third, the Sabres would score the first two goals to make it 7-4, and this is where fans started to get nervous. Surely they wouldn't blow a six-goal lead, would they? The answer would be no. The CBJ would score two more to make it 9-4, which would be the final. Last season the Sabres beat the Jackets 9-4 at NWA, so returning the favor in Buffalo must've felt good.
Tuesday's story was winger Kirill Marchenko, who would net a hat trick, bringing his goal total to 13 on the season. It was a natural hat trick and was deemed to be the fastest in team history at 8:07. The previous mark was set by Geoff Sanderson in 2003 at 9:43. Marchenko also set a club record scoring two of his goals in 18 seconds. The old record was 31 seconds in 2018 set by Cam Atkinson.
This was a very good game by the Jackets. Sure they let in four goals, but the most important thing is that when they got scored on early, they didn't quit, and kept scoring. They stayed aggressive and weathered a strong Buffalo push in the third to nail down their 11th win of the season.
The goal scorers for the Jackets were Marchenko(11, 12, 13), Gaudreau(6), Fantilli(9), Gudbranson(3), Kuraly(6), Sillinger(2), and Johnson(4).
Final Stats
cbj appPlayer Notes
- Kirill Marchenko is now tied with Boone Jenner with 13 goals on the season.
- Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and 2 assists on the night. He now has 20 points on the season.
- Adam Fantilli had a goal and an assist. He has 19 points on the season and sits second in rookie scoring.
- Zach Werenski had 2 assists, bringing his assists total to 24 on the season, and 25 total points.
- Daniil Tarasov stopped 25 of 29 shots in his second start of the season since coming back from injury.
- Kent Johnson has three multi-point games in his last six. He has 8 points in his last 6.
Team Notes
- 8 forwards had multi-point games against the Sabres.
- Werenski and Provorov both had multi-point games for the defense.
- The CBJ PP, which has been red hot since December 1st, went 1 for 2 on Tuesday.
- The Jackets blocked another 16 shots vs the Sabres, adding to their league lead.
Next Up: The Jackets are back at NWA on Thursday to take on the Capitals at 7 p.m.
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