The Blue Jackets were looking tired ahead of its 3-2 overtime win over the Mammoth. After all, Columbus were playing the second of its back-to-back series, which started with a 4-0 loss to Colorado, giving a more rested Utah team a big advantage with the game looking on track for overtime. There was just one problem though: Daniil But had been called for a tripping minor with just 23.9 seconds left in the third period. Suddenly, Utah couldn't count on winning the battle of attrition anymore. Though the Mammoth would force the game into overtime-securing a point in the standings-Utah simply was unable to overcome Columbus's 4-on-3 advantage on Dmitri Voronkov's game-winning goal. Mikhail Sergachev was certainly put in a hard position having to guard between Adam Fantilli and Zach Werenski, who assisted Voronkov on his goal, largely because of the man advantage the Blue Jackets had. Not only were the Mammoth at a disadvantage, the team was facing some bad luck too as it turns out that the puck didn't even touch the blade of Voronkov's stick- it deflected just above on the shaft. If not for Werenski making one of the most perfect passes you'll see in any hockey game, Utah very well could have held on and killed the Columbus's power play. But instead, it was the Blue Jackets who got itself a win thanks to its numbers advantage and straight willpower. VANECEK CAN'T CATCH A BREAK No goalie wants to be a part of a losing streak. But with his last win coming in late October, Vitek Vanecek now has a record of 2-9-2 and is experiencing a 10-game losing streak. In his game against the Blue Jackets, Vanecek arguably had his best game, too, with a 33-save night. But it doesn’t matter whether Vanecek has a good or bad game — Utah can’t seem to deliver him wins. “Tough situation [for Vanecek]. He didn’t play for a little bit, and came in and the guys did not play their A game in front of him, and he kept us there,” said André Tourigny. “I think he did a great job.” While it was good for Vanecek to help Utah come away with a point for the first time since Nov. 11 — a 3-2 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks — it has to be frustrating to go this long without any wins, especially with Karel Vejmelka being the first goalie to reach 20 wins across the NHL. “Every point matters," said McBain. "The (penalty) kill did a good job to get it into overtime. It was unfortunate that (Columbus) was on the 4-on-3, that’s tough. But every point matters all the way through the rest of the season.” If Vanecek is going to keep playing at this level, a win will surely come, but Utah needs to make sure it plays with added urgency if it wants to help its backup goalie out. MCBAIN SHOULDERS THE SCORING LOAD Every game there seems to be a player from each team fighting for position in front of goalie every game and it's for good reason- deflections often make impossible goals possible. Usually, a player is looking to deflect using his stick or his skates to change the projection of the goal; sometimes even his body serves as a puck deflector. But on McBains goal in the first period, something very rare happened: he scored a goal using his shoulder. Not even McBain could have processed what just happened in that moment. He is trying to dodge the puck while simultaneously protecting his face after all. He probably couldn't even see the puck. But as weird as McBain's goal was against Columbus, nothing will be weirder than when Ottawa forward Shane Pinto accidentally ended up making a save for Utah the game prior.
