SvoNotes: Chinakhov does his part to help earn Jackets a victory

In just seven words, Yegor Chinakhov said all he needed to.
The Russian winger scored his first NHL goal in a huge situation Monday night, tying the game with 4:18 to go in what would become a 5-3 win for the Blue Jackets. Afterward, Chinakhov didn't get to meet with the media to discuss his memorable moment -- his English is still coming along -- but he did address the team in the locker room.

When fellow rookie Cole Sillinger presented Chinakhov with the team's "Kepi" hat in the locker room that goes to the player of the game in each win, as usual, players responded with calls for a speech.
Chinakhov obliged, uttering seven words that left his teammates roaring.

"Good job. Good work. Good goal. Next," he said.
What more is there to say than that?
Chinakhov seemingly was due to score his first career goal in recent games thanks to a ridiculous shot and a notable hockey sense. He hit the crossbar against Washington on Friday night, then did the same early in the third period against the Wings. At some point, the puck was bound to go in, but it sure did at an excellent time for the Jackets on Monday night.
It was the culmination of a pretty play less than two minutes after Detroit rookie Lucas Raymond had given the Wings a 3-2 lead, as Sillinger played the puck up to Jakub Voracek in the neutral zone. The puck got away from the Czech veteran for a second, but that proved fortuitous, as both Red Wings defensemen (Nick Leddy and Filip Hronek) tried to play it.
Instead, Voracek was the first player to get a stick on it, sliding it around the two Detroit players to the onrushing Chinakhov. From there, it was basically academic, as we've seen enough of Chinakhov's breakaways in practice to know that facing the Russian one-on-one is generally a losing proposition for any goaltender.
It was that way in this case as well as Chinakhov calmly strode in and released a wicked shot that got through the legs of goalie Thomas Greiss before he could even move.

"Yeah, it was obviously a huge goal to tie it up, but for him, you could see it was coming," captain Boone Jenner said. "He's been getting lots of good looks. You can see his release and his shot on that goal, it's obviously pretty special. Really happy for him. He's been getting the chances, and it's good to see one go by him for him."
By now, most CBJ fans know the story of Chinakhov, whose selection with the No. 21 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft left multiple analysts with their mouths agape. But it's starting to look like one of the more astute draft picks in recent years for the Jackets -- and perhaps even wider than that -- as Chinakhov was the KHL's top rookie a year ago and has not looked out of place in the NHL this year at age 20.
It just felt like a matter of time until the first goal, and that dam is now broken.
"It was huge," Zach Werenski said. "he's had some chances lately. We knew it was just a matter of time before he scored, and what better moment than to score in that kind of setting, a time game with a few minutes left. It was awesome. It was good for our bench, it was good for our team and obviously good for him."
The goal set off a big celebration, starting with Chinakhov twirling and holstering his stick before Sillinger tackled him along the wall while Adam Boqvist went to the net to retrieve the puck. It was an undeniable lift for the Jackets, who would go on to get Werenski's winner with 1:19 to go.
"I think everybody is happy for him," head coach Brad Larsen said. "He's been so close these last several games. Silly, the second period, I could hear him talking (to Chinakhov) -- 'Stick with it, you're close, you're close.' He's trying to encourage him because the goal scorers, they like to score, and they get frustrated, too.
"I think for the bench, the timing was huge, who gets it. It's a big moment for him, and it just energized our group."
The pure joy was evident in Chinakhov's address to the team, but you could also see it in his smile while holding the puck from his first goal. While there's still a language barrier and he's getting more and more comfortable in North America, Chinakhov has quickly gained a lot of fans in the CBJ dressing room. That much was clear based on the way the team embraced him after the goal.
"He's just an awesome kid," Jenner said. "He comes in, works extremely hard, has a smile on his face, and we're happy for him."

Boqvist is Back

Before his return to the ice Monday morning, Boqvist mentioned to the media about how tough it was to watch the last seven games while out with a lower-body injury.
Players want to play, and it also hurts to be on the shelf when a team is doing some pretty good things, as the Jackets were the past few weeks.
But if there were a way the 21-year-old Swede could draw up his return to the ice, it would probably be a lot like Monday night. Not only did Boqvist notch his first goal as a Blue Jacket to tie the score at 2 in the second period, he got to take part in a thrilling comeback win.
"Obviously when you are injured, it feels like you're not in the team," he said. "You don't want to be in anyone's way. When you're in there, you want to do everything you can to help the team win and stuff, so it was just nice to get it done."
Boqvist's goal spoke to the kind of skill the Blue Jackets saw in the defenseman, who was the No. 8 overall pick of the 2018 draft and notched six goals the past two seasons with the Blackhawks. He jumped into the play, took a pass from Gavin Bayreuther and carried the puck into the offensive zone right down the middle of the ice before laying it off to Chinakhov along the right wall.
From there, Greiss made a stop on Chinakhov's shot, but Boqvist continued to the net and quickly flipped the puck past the Wings goalie from a sharp angle on the right. It was a nifty finish and showed off the talent Boqvist brings to the table.

"You saw the puck play from Bo, what he can do, his poise, plays under pressure," Larsen said. "He gets a huge goal. Even on the entry he makes a real good play, driving through, and that's a tough goal he scored there. That's not an easy goal. He added something there."
With the two first goals from Chinakhov and Boqvist, six players have scored their first CBJ goals this season, with the two joining Sillinger, forwards Sean Kuraly and Gregory Hoffman, and defenseman Jake Bean.
"It was nice to get that one out of the way," Boqvist said. "Obviously it feels good to win as well."

A Wild Winner

Werenski is no stranger to scoring goals -- big ones, too -- but his tally that gave the Jackets the win with 79 seconds to go was a bit unique.
The CBJ defenseman lost his stick in the neutral zone in the lead-up to the goal, and as he was setting up shop to defend in front of goalie Elvis Merzlikins, Werenski was given a stick by Jackets forward Gus Nyquist.
That's commonly how it goes in the NHL -- stick protocol reads that forwards give up their twigs to defensemen, and everyone helps out the goalie when his has gone missing -- but luckily for Werenski, as soon as he took Nyquist's stick, the play left the CBJ defensive zone.
So as Oliver Bjorkstrand tracked down the puck and got it into the offensive zone, Werenski quickly gave the stick back to Nyquist. From there, he joined the play, picking up his stick in the neutral zone and taking a pass from Nyquist at the blue line, and his shot deflected off Detroit's Pius Suter and into the top corner to give the Jackets the lead and win.

"I was gonna change," Werenski admitted. "I saw my stick sitting at center ice. I went and picked it up. When I got in the zone, Gus passed me the puck and it ended up going in the net. Probably one of the weirder goals I've scored, but we'll take it."
The goal was the third of the year for Werenski, who has been eating up ice time all season but hadn't made the offensive impact he had hoped. He entered the game fourth in the league in ice time (26:12 per game) and topped that on this night, finishing with 28:11 of time.
And as most know, he's childhood friends with Dylan Larkin of the Red Wings, and he watched as Larkin scored the opening goal of the game to give Detroit the lead. But on this night, Werenski was the one to get the last laugh with his 11th career game-winning goal.
"When I saw him score that first goal, I wanted to get one," Werenski said. "It's just kind of how it goes. Obviously we're competitive, best of friends, but when we play each other we both want to win. It felt good to get that one and get two points for our team. I'm sure I'll see him in the hallway after and kidn of give him (crap) a little bit."

Stats and Facts

• The Blue Jackets (8-5-0) now have five wins this season in games in which they have trailed in the third period. Werenski's winner was also the second for the team this year in the final two minutes, joining Sillinger's game-winning goal Nov. 6 vs. Colorado. While Columbus has two such wins in a four-game span, it's a unique occurrence; the Jackets have just 26 wins with goals in the last two minutes in franchise history.
• Merzlikins improved to 6-1-0 this year at home with 24 saves on 27 shots against. His biggest stop came in the third period as he got over to stop a shot by Sam Gagner off a feed from Bertuzzi; Bertuzzi hit the rebound with a high stick before stuffing it in the net, and the goal was waved off.
• Bjorkstrand saw a five-game point streak end, but three others continued. Voracek is up to six straight games with a point (1-7-8), while Alexandre Texier's empty-net goal gives him 3-1-4 in a four-game streak. That run is matched by Eric Robinson (1-3-4) over the past four games.
• Texier played in his 100th career game, with all of them coming for the Blue Jackets.
• In his NHL debut, CBJ winger Justin Danforth played 7:23 and posted a team-high six hits.
• Bjorkstrand didn't score but had a team-high 12 shot attempts. Five were on goal, matching Sillinger and Jenner for a team high.
• Bayreuther's assist gives him helpers in two consecutive games, the first point streak of his NHL career.
• The Jackets are 16-5-1 vs. Detroit since 2016-17 and 15-4-1 in last 20 games vs. the Red Wings at Nationwide Arena since March 28, 2012.
• Greiss stopped 33 of 37 shots against in his 28th career start against Columbus.