Blue Jackets lose preseason tilt to St. Louis

The Blue Jackets suffered a 7-3 loss against St. Louis in the penultimate preseason game on Friday night at the Enterprise Center.

CBJ Standouts

• Emil Bemstrom tallied his third and fourth goals of the preseason in his fifth contest.
• Brendan Gaunce got on the board with a goal in the third period
• Gregory Hofmann had a pair of assists for Columbus.

Quick Recap

The Blue Jackets, thanks in part to some bad luck, were down 3-0 after a period. The Blues got on the board at 6:45 when Dean Kukan tried to play the puck up the ice from behind his net only to see it go off Vladimir Tarasenko, then Joonas Korpisalo and into the net behind the CBJ goalie. St. Louis then doubled the lead at 8:30 when Jake Walman's shot from the top of the left circle beat Korpisalo short side, and then another bad break made it 3-0 at 15:05 when David Perron's centering pass went off a CBJ skate and into the net.
The Blues then doubled the lead in the second period with three more goals past Korpisalo. It started early as Korpisalo made a great rebound save on Robert Thomas with his paddle, but James Neal was there to put in the third try to make it 4-0 at 3:53. Robert Bortuzzo then beat Korpisalo from the top of the right circle at 8:35, and Jordan Kyrou made it 6-0 when he took a royal road feed from Thomas on the power play and slammed it in the open net from the left circle at 15:01.
Columbus got into the board 3:35 into the third as Bemstrom tallied. A pass from Hofmann got him into the zone with speed, and as he hit the slot while going 1-on-1 with a Blues defenseman, Bemstrom ripped a wrist shot that got by the blocker of Binnington. St. Louis then made it 7-1 as Bortuzzo fed Tyler Bozak, who deked in alone past the defense and lifted a backhander past Korpisalo at 7:56. Bemstrom then finished the scoring with 3:14 to go as he took a nice feed on the rush from Kevin Stenlund and drove a shot past the helpless Binnington. Gaunce then set the final score, tallying from in front on a rebound with 42.2 seconds to go with an assist going to Carson Meyer.

Jeff's Three Takeaways

1. You can't take a whole lot from this game, as St. Louis played its regulars while the Blue Jackets put together a roster you're more likely to see in Cleveland rather than Columbus this year. The bad news for the Blue Jackets is they appeared to be discombobulated, perhaps because half of the players on the roster were with the Monsters the past few days rather than with the Jackets. Still, for the handful of players looking to make one final impact, it wasn't always the greatest of showings.
   2. Were there some positives? Sure, there were some nice individual moments (including Bemstrom's goals), and the CBJ power play moved the puck well at times even with the entire top two lines home in Columbus. Hofmann had a couple of good looks and a pair of assists as he tries to make the opening roster up front, while the AHL trio of Tyler Sikura, Gaunce and Meyer had some good shifts and got rewarded in the end.
   3. Now all eyes shift to Columbus to see how the Blue Jackets will fare in the preseason finale against Pittsburgh in Nationwide Arena. It's essentially a dress rehearsal game with the Jackets expected to ice something close to an opening night lineup. Just like the players on the bubble tonight got a look, those perhaps leaning toward the other side of it will have one final chance as well. Then, by Monday, the Jackets will have to make some decisions.

Notable

Columbus fell to 4-2-1 in the preseason. … St. Louis native Josh Dunne started the game for the Blue Jackets, playing in front of friends and family in his hometown. … Korpisalo finished with 22 saves on 29 shots against as the Blues had a 29-20 edge in shots on goal. … With two assists, Hofmann now has a 1-2-3 line in the preseason. … Perron, Bortuzzo, Walman and Thomas all had multipoint efforts for St. Louis, led by Burtuzzo's three-point night (1-2-3).

Roster Report

Here is a link to the roster
the Blue Jackets used for the game, with Columbus opting to look at prospects and those on the bubble to make the NHL roster. Eight players were recalled from AHL Cleveland on Thursday to fill out the roster.

Up Next

Columbus finishes the exhibition season tomorrow night vs. Pittsburgh with a 7 p.m. puck drop against the Penguins in Nationwide Arena.