Morning Musings: Blue Jackets battle way to win over Montreal

Inhale, exhale. (Or as Blue Jackets fans have heard before, breathe in, breathe out.) CBJ fans rode the roller coaster Thursday night, but in the end it was a fun ride as Columbus finished off a 6-4 victory against Montreal in Nationwide Arena. The victory moved the Jackets to 3-0-1 in their last four games and likely didn't even come at a cost -- as far as we know, everyone got through the contest unscathed on the injury front.

Game In Five Minutes

Three Topics

1. I'll be honest, I'm not even sure what to say about this one.
   There will be tape for the coaches to pore over, and the Blue Jackets will have plenty of things to correct when they arrive at Nationwide Arena for Friday's practice. But at the same time, given all the injuries that have hit the club in recent weeks, if I'm a fan (or writer), I don't see much point in going over schematics or strategy at the moment.
   The only thing that feels important about this team right now is how much it is battling, and the Jackets have played their behinds off the last four games. It was the same story tonight, as Columbus didn't really have its "A" game but found a way to win as up and down an NHL game as you'll ever see
   There were so many momentum-turning plays, as Columbus led 2-0 after one, Montreal battled back to tie it with a goal in the dying seconds of the middle period, Mathieu Olivier turned momentum seconds later when he dropped the gloves, the Blue Jackets then went up 3-2 in the third, watched Montreal tie it 3-3 (which kicked off a stretch of four goals in 1:50), then the CBJ eventually put the finishing touches on the win.
   "This wasn't pretty tonight at all, but you have to win ugly in this league at times," head coach Brad Larsen said. "I thought (Joonas Korpisalo) was outstanding. … I don't think it was a lack of try. I think guys, for whatever reason, it felt like we had one of those grenades with the pin pulled and we were just throwing it back and forth to each other. … It was a little bit of a scramble tonight, but we found a way to win, and our goaltender was outstanding."
   2. With all the shuffling in and out because of injury, the Blue Jackets have needed a constant to help them get through things. That constant in the past two games has been the line of Olivier, Sean Kuraly and Eric Robinson, which for the second game in a row got the job done on both the scoreboard and in other ways.
   A game after Kuraly and Robinson both scored, Kuraly tallied twice while Olivier got his first CBJ goal in this win against the Canadiens. Olivier, as we previously mentioned, also changed the tone of the game when he dropped the gloves against massive rookie Arber Xhekaj as the horn sounded to end the second period, just 2.1 seconds after Josh Anderson tied the score.
   "Huge," Kuraly said. "You've got someone putting it on the line like that, I think it goes through the whole group. There's no question. That's the spark we needed at the right time, and per usual vs. a heavy hitter on the other side."
   Larsen has repeatedly talked about how Olivier brings more than just size and snarl to the table, and he proved it on this night. With the Jackets holding a 4-3 lead and time ticking down, the Blue Jackets perfectly executed a faceoff play as Kuraly won the draw, Robinson cleared out some space and Olivier ripped home a shot for not just his first goal as a Jacket but his first since March 2021 with Nashville.

As part of his celebration, Olivier reached behind him and tossed the proverbial monkey off his back.
"It was about time," Olivier said. "It was way overdue. Especially last year with the year I went through, I didn't get a goal in the NHL last year. Yeah, it's been a long time. I knew I could do it. I had some chances the last few games, I felt like, and it finally goes in."
3. Then there was Kuraly, who has three goals in the past two games after coming back from two contests out with an upper-body injury. His goal that broke a 3-3 tie and gave Columbus the lead for good with 9:51 to go was certainly one of his best in the NHL, as he skated the puck through the neutral zone, played it behind two defenders, split the D, recovered the puck and lifted a nifty finish past goalie Sam Montembeault.
That play came moments after a Kuraly turnover almost ended up in the CBJ net and on the same shift that he absorbed a hit in the CBJ offensive zone then delivered one on the other side of the ice, and it's fair to say the local kid had some fire in his belly as he steamed up the ice.
"I was going to dump the puck and I had a little bit of extra juice," he said. "I tried to make, it's not a dangle, but I just put the puck behind him and see if I could have a chance. It worked out tonight. There's nights you even do better stuff and it doesn't work out, but you're happy when it goes in the back of the net."

Add in his faceoff win that led directly to Olivier's goal and his empty-netter and Kuraly -- who had the fourth two-goal game and third three-point night of his career -- had a full evening.
"He fought the puck hard tonight," Larsen said. "He had some turnovers he usually doesn't have. … (But) it's a heck of a goal. You don't see that much, but good on him. He felt like he could do it and he executed. It was a great goal."

Quote Of The Game

Larsen when it was suggested the Blue Jackets escaped a game without an injured player for the first time this month: "I haven't confirmed that yet, so I have my fingers crossed."

Nerd Stuff

• Jenner's goal off a pass from Kent Johnson, who was promoted to the top line, in the third period was his fifth in the last four games and his sixth in the last four home contests.
• Cole Sillinger's first-period goal gives him points in three straight games (2-1-3).
• Olivier is now tied for the NHL lead with four fighting majors.
• With Olivier's tally, 20 different players have now scored goals on the season for the Blue Jackets.
• A season-high 12 different Blue Jackets had a point in the game, but Kuraly was the only player with multiple points.
• With an assist, Yegor Chinakhov now has seven helpers in 16 games, matching his total in 62 games a season ago.
• Erik Gudbranson tallied two assists for his first multipoint game as a Blue Jacket.
• Jake Christiansen's first-period assist was his first point of the season and first NHL helper.
• Per Natural Stat Trick, Montreal had an edge of 2.78-2.01 in expected goals at 5-on-5. Columbus led in the metric through two periods but the Habs had an 1.55-0.51 edge in the third period despite the three CBJ 5-on-5 goals.
• Columbus had scored a power-play goal in four of five games but went 0-for-1 on this night.
• Korpisalo finished with 38 saves on 42 shots against and has a .915 save percentage in the last four games (3-0-1 record).
• The Blue Jackets have won six straight vs. Montreal and are 7-0-1 in the last eight.

Being Social

Sir Yacht ended up eating 38 donuts (well, Timbits) thanks to Korpisalo.

Liberty certainly was a good luck charm!

Caitie knew what was up.

Come back anytime!