CS-CBJ-WerenskiNorris Columbus Blue Jackets forward Mathieu Olivier joined Morning Juice to discuss last night’s game against the Buffalo Sabres. One of the biggest talking points was Olivier’s fight with Buffalo’s Dennis Gilbert right at the start of the game. When asked about the reason behind it, he gave an interesting response. “There was some buzz around the Buffalo team,” Olivier said. “One of their star players took a dirty hit in the game before, and they obviously wanted to send a message and stand up for themselves. For me, it was more about making sure they didn’t send that message against our group. We’re not the team to do that against.” Olivier added that he expected a fight and that Gilbert asked him to go right off the opening faceoff. He figured it was best to take care of it early. Another topic that came up was the freak accident that saw a puck fly into the Blue Jackets’ bench and hit Kirill Marchenko in the face, breaking his jaw. He is expected to miss six to eight weeks. “I’ve taken a few pucks to the face, but fortunately, none have been too hard,” Olivier said. “That was a crazy play. I was on the ice when it happened. I had just hopped on, and he had just hopped off after blocking a shot off the ankle. That’s why he was hunched over and didn’t see the puck coming—it was kind of a double whammy for him.” Losing Marchenko is a big blow for the Blue Jackets, and Olivier didn’t shy away from that reality. “It’s gut-wrenching. You lose your best forward. We’re going to have to find a way to fill the gap.” Finally, Olivier was asked about the team’s frustration following their Sunday night loss to the Dallas Stars. “We weren’t happy,” he admitted. “There are things I can and can’t say, but we felt there were a lot of missed opportunities. I’ll leave it at that. A lot of things were missed in that game, and we felt like we got robbed.” What's Next: The Blue Jackets are home on Thursday and will welcome the Utah Hockey Club [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/utah/] in NWA. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjEyNTg3NTY3NTU4Njk4NjI0/screenshot-2025-02-03-211307.png] Stay updated with the most interesting Blue Jackets stories, analysis, breaking news, and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News [https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMK-q0gsw7sXpAw/sections/CAQqEAgAKgcICjCvqtILMO7F6QMwm-DfCA?hl=en-CA&gl=CA&ceid=CA%3Aen] and never miss a story.
