Quote of the Night
Head coach John Tortorella: "You can't get frustrated. We played a good game. It's hard to overcome, I think, when you give up a goal late in the period and get scored on early in a period. But we did a lot of good things."
CBJ Notables
Quick Recap
The Blue Jackets had a solid road start and got momentum from their first penalty kill. Moments after Pierre-Luc Dubois got out of the box, the first line set up the first goal of the game, with Artemi Panarin feeding in Werenski on a 2-on-1 and the defenseman burying the shot past David Rittich's blocker to make it 1-0 at 10:25.
But the Flames got stronger as the period went on and tied the game at 1 at 13:44. It was Johnny Gaudreau who got the goal, his 35th of the year, when he took a pass from Derek Ryan in the high slot and wristed a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky.
Columbus had bad puck luck as the period went on as Lukas Sedlak and Ryan Dzingel hit the post, and that was particularly galling when the Flames took a 2-1 lead with 7.2 seconds left in the period. Andrew Mangiapane got loose at the right post and took a nice feed from Mark Jankowski before depositing the puck behind Bobrovsky, who couldn't see the puck.
It quickly got worse for the Blue Jackets in the second as Michael Frolik scored just 35 seconds in to make it 3-1. The Flames forward deked through much of the Jackets defense before pulling the puck around Bobrovsky and scoring.
The Jackets' bad luck continued into the rest of the period, as Dubois twice drew iron in the frame. Columbus also had a potential goal on the power play reviewed, as Cam Atkinson thought he had scored in scramble, but somehow Rittich and defenseman Mark Giordano kept the puck out of the net at the post.
Columbus came out like a freight train, though, in the third despite the fact Calgary entered the game plus-49 in goals this year in the final frame, best in the NHL. The Jackets made it a 3-2 game on the power play with 5:28 gone in the frame, as Bjorkstrand sniped a shot from the right circle short side over Rittich's glove. Rittich then made a nice side-to-side stop on Dubois on a 3-on-2 rush.
Columbus couldn't find the tying goal, though, with Bobrovsky pulled for the final two minutes and change after making a breakaway stop late on Mikael Backlund. Matthew Tkachuk's empty-net goal gave him 33 on the year with 51 seconds to play.
By the Numbers
Bobrovsky made 27 saves while Rittich ended with 31. ... Calgary, which entered the game averaging 4.2 goals per game at home, improved to 24-7-5 at the Saddledome while Columbus fell to 20-13-2 on the road. … The win was Calgary's first vs. Columbus at home since 2011, and Columbus had won eight straight in the Saddledome. … Gaudreau has three goals in two games this year vs. Columbus. ... Calgary swept the season series 2-0, scoring 13 goals in the process. … The CBJ power play was 1-3, while the Jackets killed Calgary's only chance of the game, with Columbus moving to 76 of 83 (91.6 percent) on the penalty kill the last 35 games. ... Calgary now has 20 empty-net goals this season.
Roster Report
Columbus defenseman Markus Nutivaara did not play because of illness, with Dean Kukan entering in his place. Captain Nick Foligno was scratched for the second straight game while dealing with a personal matter, joining Markus Hannikainen, Eric Robinson and goaltender Keith Kinkaid.
Up Next
The Blue Jackets stay in Alberta on Thursday, taking on Edmonton at 9 p.m.
