After CBJ wins, we'll give three takeaways about what stood out or what we'll remember from the Blue Jackets' victory.
1. The second win of Rick Bowness’ tenure featured an important milestone – a third-period lead held without incident.
The Blue Jackets’ troubles closing out games have been well documented this year, so Thursday felt like a critical early test for the squad. Holding a 3-1 lead going into the final frame, could they finish things off?
The answer was a pretty emphatic yes. Columbus killed off a Vancouver power play early in the final period, then added an insurance goal from Kent Johnson with 9:47 to go. The final 10 minutes were largely academic as the Blue Jackets looked comfortable playing from ahead throughout the period.
Bowness spoke about the team’s issues in the third at his introductory press conference Tuesday, but he wasn’t too interested in going down that road Thursday. Simply put, a page had been turned.
“That was before I got here,” the head coach said postgame. “I’m not worried about it. I just said, ‘Here’s how I want us to play.’ I’m not worried about that. That’s in the past. I know how I want us to play.”
In the end, shots on goal were 8-8 in the third, and the Blue Jackets had a slight edge in expected goals share at 5-on-5 per Natural Stat Trick. There weren’t too many moments when the Jackets were stuck in their own end defending, and drama was in short supply as the Blue Jackets kept their foot on the gas pedal.
“We wanted to play with pace in the third,” Johnson said. “That was one thing that was said (during the second intermission), so it felt good, and I think it was a good third period. You don’t play to the score, just keep going, so it was great.”
That message would likely be music to Bowness’ ears considering what the coach said at his own press conference moments later.
“Just play the right way all the time,” Bowness said. “You know who told me that? (Four-time Stanley Cup championship coach) Al Arbour. He just kept saying, ‘Don’t worry about the score. Play the game the right way,’ and I’ve always remembered that. And that’s right. You just keep pushing.
“This is a league, you take your foot off the gas, you’re in trouble. I don’t care who you play. There’s too many talented players on every team, and they’ve got them, so you just have to keep playing the right way. We’re going to keep pushing them.”
2. Elvis Merzlikins earned a much-deserved first star honor after getting the win.
There’s no doubt the last stretch or so has been hard on the goaltender, who made just two starts in a month’s time from mid-December to mid-January. It was a double-sided situation, as Jet Greaves had seemingly put his stamp on the No. 1 job, while Merzlikins had struggled statistically since the goalie rotation that started the year went by the wayside.
At the goaltending position, where timing is so important and nothing can quite replicate the pace and chaos of game action, that’s a tough situation for a netminder to go through. But Merzlikins made some solid stops in Saturday’s start vs. Colorado and was in rhythm against the Canucks, finishing with 30 saves on 31 shots against.
“Of course I am happy,” Merzlikins said. “It took me a while to win a game and actually to play, so it means a lot to me for my confidence for myself. Obviously the boys did an amazing job. They were blocking the shots all night long, especially in the end when Vancouver started to put the pressure on.”
For Bowness, though, the most important part of Merzlikins’ performance was the start. It took about 10 minutes for the Blue Jackets to find their game, and Merzlikins made critical stops in the early going against both Brock Boeser and Liam Ohgren on the rush to keep the game scoreless.
“He was calm all night,” Bowness said. “He was mad at the goal that went in, but he made some big saves. Some of those turnovers we gave up in the first period, he saved our butt. He did. I thought he was very calm. I thought he was outstanding tonight.”
3. Kirill Marchenko also gets a coaching credit for helping Charlie Coyle score the game’s first goal.
It was a beautiful goal that got the scoring started, as with the Blue Jackets on the power play, Marchenko found Coyle at the netfront with time and space. Coyle put the puck on the forehand to draw goalie Kevin Lankinen away from the post, then quickly did a little shake and bake, moving it to his backhand and sneaking the puck to that vacated space.
