The Blue Jackets didn’t just beat the Avalanche on Tuesday night. They blew the doors off them.
Columbus rolled to a 7-2 win at home, and the game was effectively on tilt from the opening shift. Mathieu Olivier got things started by burying a rebound of a Charlie Coyle shot to make it 1-0, and that was only the beginning of a huge night for the Jackets’ third line.
Ivan Provorov pushed the lead to 2-0 a little more than seven minutes later, hammering home a point shot on the power play for his first goal of the season. Colorado answered to trim it to 2-1 just past the midway point of the period, but that was as close as it would get.
The second period, the one that usually brings the dread, turned into the knockout punch for Columbus. Instead of letting the game slip away, the Blue Jackets ripped off four goals and buried the Avalanche.
Jake Christiansen struck at 4:19, unloading a slap shot through traffic. Three minutes later, Cole Sillinger cashed in on his own rebound to make it 4-1. Coyle added a power-play goal at 12:03, also on a rebound, before Valeri Nichushkin scored 39 seconds later off the rush against his former team to make it 6-1 and send Avalanche starter Scott Wedgewood out of the crease.
Colorado got a little life back from a 5-on-3 power-play goal to cut it to 6-2 heading into the third, but Columbus never let the game get interesting again. The Blue Jackets came out strong in the final period and kept pressing instead of sitting back on the lead.
They only added one more, but it was a beauty. Coyle scored his second of the night at 11:21, weaving his way down High Street and beating Mackenzie Blackwood to make it 7-2.
The big story was the “identity line” of Sillinger, Coyle, and Olivier. Against the top line of the highest scoring team in the league, that trio turned in one of the Blue Jackets’ best performances in a long time. They combined for four goals, nine points, and a +11 rating, and swept the game’s three stars voting.
But this wasn’t just one line carrying the night. All four lines rolled the same way, winning pucks in the corners and feeding the point, which is where a lot of this team’s offense has to come from. Columbus played a full 60 minutes with everyone on the same page, and even when Colorado grabbed a little momentum, the Jackets never panicked or tried to force anything.
The other encouraging piece: the scoring came from everywhere but the top line and the top defense pairing. Zach Werenski did pick up a couple of assists, but the real damage came from the secondary group finally breaking through.
That kind of production won’t show up every night, but if Columbus can keep getting contributions like this, it gives them a real chance to keep moving in the right direction.
Next up is Thursday’s home game against the Dallas Stars, a much tighter checking team, as the Jackets learned on Saturday. For one night, though, they had every reason to enjoy a statement win.
In Other News...
Blue Jackets May Have Found A Third Pairing Answer Again
Jake Christiansens climb up the Blue Jackets depth chart has been one of the quieter but more interesting developments around the blue line. The undrafted defenseman has seen his role fluctuate over the past two seasons, but his recent play has earned more trust from the coaching staff and put him in position to handle a steadier spot on the third pairing.
For a Columbus defense that has spent much of the season sorting through options, Christiansens rise offers a familiar kind of value: a player who has kept working, stayed ready and forced his way back into the conversation. He has appeared in 68 games this season after getting into 40 last year, and the latest signs suggest the Jackets may have found another workable answer on the back end. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Desperately Need Offense And Rick Bowness Just Sent A Message
With the Blue Jackets still searching for more punch, Rick Bowness spent practice reshuffling his forward groups ahead of a matchup with the Avalanche. The changes were notable because they came with Kent Johnson still leading the club in scoring and Zach Werenski continuing to help drive the offense from the blue line, even as he waits for his first goal of the season.
One of the bigger tweaks was Luca Del Bel Belluz moving into a more prominent role in the lineup, a sign Bowness is willing to keep experimenting to find the right mix. Columbus has needed more production for a while now, and the latest set of line combinations suggests the coach is trying to spark something before the challenge gets any tougher. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Are Inviting Another Roster Debate With Dmitri Voronkov
Dmitri Voronkov has become one of the more curious roster cases in Columbus, especially for a team still sorting out its identity and its cap situation. The winger has been productive enough on the ice to make his recent place in the lineup hard to explain, and his underlying numbers have only added to the sense that there is more going on here than a simple coaching preference.
Around the league, the speculation has only grown that the Blue Jackets could move him sooner rather than later, with general manager Don Waddell looking for ways to create flexibility. No deal has been announced, but the possibility alone is enough to reopen the familiar debate about whether Columbus is prioritizing short-term roster management over keeping a useful young forward in the fold. [Read more 🡒]