The Blue Jackets were outshot 13-7 in the first period but grew into the game and also got on the board first with Justin Danforth's tally 7:15 into the game. Danforth got to the net and was there to tip Jake Christiansen's shot from the left point past goalie Dustin Tokarski to make it a 1-0 game.
Columbus got better as the first went on and fully hit its stride in the second, taking a 4-0 lead and dominating the shot count 16-7. Laine tallied 8:03 into the frame when he one-timed Andrew Peeke's cross-ice pass by Tokarski, then Voracek tallied a power-play goal just 64 seconds later when he whacked home a rebound off a shot by Danforth. Then at 13:32, it became 4-0 when Gus Nyquist completed a long shift in the zone with a sharp-angle shot past Tokarski.
The Blue Jackets didn't have the same sharpness to their game early in the third and were bailed out by goalie Jet Greaves a number of times early in the frame before Jordan Frasca wired a wrister home from the slot to make it 4-1 with 11:51 to go. Columbus settled things down from there and made it 5-1 late with a power-play goal as Danforth one-timed Gaudreau's pass into the top corner.
