SvoNotes: Bjorkstrand, Voracek deliver in win over Sabres

Jakub Voracek entered Thursday night's game in Buffalo having not scored a goal in 31 games.
Oliver Bjorkstrand, meanwhile, had a much shorter scoreless streak, but pure goal scorers like The Maestro don't like to go seven games without tallying, not to mention the fact he had points in just seven of the previous 23 games.

But all streaks in hockey, good and bad, are generally due to end, and that was the case in another feel-good win for the Blue Jackets on the shores of Lake Erie. Bjorkstrand's power-play goal with 5:35 to go tied the game and sent it to overtime, and Voracek's winner just 16 seconds into OT gave Columbus a 4-3 victory over the Sabres in the KeyBank Center.
It was the second fastest OT winner in Blue Jackets history, and the fact that it came off the stick of the team's oldest player felt good for everyone involved.

Not the least of which was Voracek, who had been snakebitten all season on the goal-scoring front. While his 28 assists entering the game led the Blue Jackets -- and his 23 primary helpers were tied for fifth in the NHL -- he had scored just once this season.
"Too good of a shot," he deadpanned when asked if he thought goalie Dustin Tokarski was taken by surprise by the far-post shot from the right circleesx .
But Voracek also has quite a reputation as a pass-first player, which is well deserved considering he entered the season sixth in the NHL over the past seven seasons with 333 assists.
"You didn't think he was gonna score there?" head coach Brad Larsen said in a Voracekian deadpan of his own. "He has one goal. We were as surprised as anybody. No, we're thrilled. Great shot, and a huge goal for us."
At the same time, Voracek's lack of goal scoring this year couldn't all be attributed to the fact he's a distributor over a shooter -- he still had 80 shots on goal this year entering the game -- but rather someone who just hasn't gotten luck on his side to this point.
Voracek's career shooting percentage has hovered around 9 percent, so the fact the puck hadn't gone in that much was likely due to bad luck as much as anything else. In a normal year, he'd have seven or eight goals on the season given his shot rates, but he also knew that if he stuck with it, things will likely even out.
While he acknowledged not having scored since Nov. 13 was not ideal -- "That's a lot of games," he admitted -- he still knew he was bringing a lot to the table for the team.

"I think I've never been in this situation when I had (Patrik) Laine or Bjorkstrand, where I've played with one or the other," he said. "I had to get used to it because I wanted to feed them the puck all the time because they have great shots, some of the best I've seen. But sometimes you have to get in your head that when you take that shot, it opens up something else. Even at my age sometimes, there are things you have to get used to.
"I would say the last four or five games I've had a lot of shots on net. I was close a few times. Sometimes you go through that, and I am just focusing on my game and trying to help the team to win. If I score or have an assist or I do a nice backcheck, win a battle, that's what I'm focused on and that's what I'm here for."
Bjorkstrand, though, said he could kind of see the Voracek winner coming.
"I've seen him work on his shot the last few practices, so today I wasn't surprised," the Danish snipe rsaid. "He has a good shot, so I think when he uses it, he can score."
Meanwhile, it's no surprise when Bjorkstrand scores a goal, as the man nicknamed The Maestro has become known around the league for his fast, accurate and deceptive release.
Yet he arrived in the Nickel City with just one goal in his previous 11 games, a streak that made it clear Bjorkstrand was fighting it. The alternate captain admitted there was a time in his life where that would have bothered him, but instead he's been focused on finding his game.
"I think I've taken steps over the years getting my role on the team," he said. "I know where I stand now. Obviously when you're younger, you always are fighting for that spot and proving yourself. I feel like I'm in a good spot right now, so it's easier to stick to the fundamentals and focus on doing the right things and now thinking too much about where you're gonna be in the lineup. It's a little easier to handle now."

And you can consider the streak officially snapped after his huge goal to tie the score with the Blue Jackets on the power play in the latter half of the third period. Bjorkstrand scored the team's third power-play goal in two games as after a textbook zone entry that included touches from Zach Werenski, Boone Jenner and Voracek, Laine powered toward the net into the right circle. From there, Laine fired a perfect pass across the royal road to Bjorkstrand, who had a relatively easy job in stuffing the puck past Tokarski.
The Maestro nearly gave Columbus the lead when Laine fed him alone in front on his next shift, but Tokarski made an excellent pad save on Bjorkstrand's quick move.
"He almost scores again," Larsen said. "All of a sudden the puck is on his stick, he's skating. Guys go through this stuff. It's not unheard of. You want to stop it sooner than later, but early in the game, it looked like he was fighting the puck a bit, he was making rush plays where normally he just settles it down. That happens.
"Oliver cares about his game. He puts the work in. He's working on video. He's putting in extra time. It's incredible, you score one goal and you see what happens."

Fourth Line Shines

On this night, in front of a spartan crowd in Buffalo's KeyBank Center, the Blue Jackets needed energy from somewhere.
They found it in the form of a line featuring center Jack Roslovic as well as Brendan Gaunce and Trey Fix-Wolansky. The two wingers were playing in just their second games as Blue Jackets -- and just the second game of Fix-Wolansky's career -- but given what the opportunity means to each, it wasn't a surprise to see that grouping push the pace as the night went on.
And it paid off, as the line scored a pair of goals at even strength and had a 13-4 edge in shot attempts at 5-on-5 with all three on the ice. First, Roslovic started the game's scoring at the end of a good shift for the line when his centering pass went off the skate of Sabres defenseman Mark Pysyk and into the net. Fix-Wolansky got one of the assists on the goal, his first NHL helper and his second point in his first two games.
Then Gaunce scored a momentum-changing goal, his first tally as a Blue Jacket, when he beat Tokarski from through the legs from a sharp angle on the rush nearly five minutes in the third period to cut the Jackets' 3-1 deficit into a one-goal game.

"Overall, great game," Larsen said of the line. "They get two goals for us, and timely goals. They got us on the board early there, obviously got a lucky bounce, but then Gauncer, that's a huge goal for us. They go up 3-1 right away (in the third), it's a little deflating, but that goal gave us some energy. They provided some really key shifts for us."
For Gaunce, it was his first NHL goal since 2018 and his first for any team other than Vancouver, with whom he had six tallies over four seasons and 117 games. He was leading Cleveland with 16 goals this year, and the 27-year-old was excited to get back in the scoring column at the highest level.
"It was a big goal for me, it was a big goal for the team, and I'm just excited to contribute," Gaunce said.

Stats and Facts

• Just call them the comeback kids -- Columbus has trailed in 14 of its 22 wins this season and has six wins when trailing after two periods, tied with Florida for the most in the NHL.
• Ten different Blue Jackets had points in the win, with Voracek the only player to post a multipoint effort.
• Laine's streak of multipoint games ended at four, but with the assist on Bjorkstrand's goal, he now has a 6-4-10 line in his last five games.
• Per Blue Jackets public relations, Columbus has scored four-plus goals in each of the last five games (24 goals total). It's the third time in club history the Jackets have accomplished that feat. The 24 goals are also tied for the second-most over a five-game stretch (25 from March 27 through April 5, 2018).
• Jenner's assist kept him at a point per game over the past 13, as he has a 7-6-13 line in that span.
• With his goal, Roslovic now has three tallies in two games at Buffalo this season.
• Werenski had a team-high nine shot attempts while Yegor Chinakhov was next with seven.
• Columbus is now 5-0 in overtime and 8-1 in games that go past 60 minutes, an .889 win percentage that is best in the NHL.
• The Blue Jackets improved to 10-12-0 on the road this season and have won four straight road games.
• Columbus has now given up at least three goals in 20 of 22 road games, and Alex Tuch's goal 12 seconds into the third period was the 14th goal allowed this year by the Jackets in the first minute of a period.
• CBJ defenseman Gavin Bayreuther did not play the last 18:34 after a hard collision with the wall on his first and only shift of the third period. Larsen said Bayreuther was doing well postgame but would be reevaluated Friday.
• The only goal faster in overtime in team history? Cam Atkinson's tally 10 seconds into OT to beat Philadelphia on Dec. 6, 2018.