Winning Thoughts: Blue Jackets rally to massive win over Red Wings

After CBJ wins, we'll give three takeaways about what stood out or what we'll remember from the Blue Jackets' victory.

BLUE JACKETS 4, RED WINGS 3 (SHOOTOUT)

1. Rick Bowness said postgame that this time of year, your best players have to be your best players, and no one was bigger in this victory than Zach Werenski.

It’s a wide-open race for the Norris Trophy, but a few more games like that and Werenski might be clearing space on his mantle. The CBJ defenseman skated a career-high 33:26 and finished with a goal, the primary assist on the game-tying goal in the dying seconds, his first career shootout goal to clinch the win, plus 15 total shot attempts and four blocked shots.

Oh, and he did it all in his hometown of Detroit, with plenty of friends and family rooting him on, leading to an audible cheer when his fifth-round shootout winner got past John Gibson and sent the Blue Jackets bench spilling onto the ice in pandemonium.

“It’s really cool,” he said afterward. “I saw my parents after the game in the stands, saw my brother up there. Those are the moments you that you play the game for. I think that’s what makes it better. It would have been fun in any building, especially given what’s on the line, but I think just seeing them after the game, it definitely ranks pretty high up there for moments in a regular-season game for me.”

And to add to the legend, Werenski saved his best for last despite playing on essentially one foot. He took a spill behind the CBJ net late in overtime and his laces were cut in the process, so he quickly enlisted equipment manager Paul DeFazio for some repairs. In the heat of battle, though, the most DeFazio could do was wrap some clear tape around his left boot.

Considering the situation – Werenski was 0-for-3 in his career in the shootout, and he was in a wobbly skate – he didn’t expect he’d get the call in the skills competition. But as things got to the fifth round, assistant coach Mike Haviland – who had known about his cut laces – still chose to call out Werenski’s name in the shootout.

“I couldn’t really skate, so when they called me, I was like, ‘You guys sure? I’m kind of on one leg here,’” Werenski said afterward. “My foot was in the skate but pretty wobbly. It probably made me feel more calm to be honest because I was like, ‘You know what, nothing to lose really. Just go down there and fire it.’ I was calm and felt good about it. Cool moment for sure.”

Head coach Rick Bowness had no idea about the situation until told by the media postgame, but in the end that’s probably for the best.

“No one tells me those things,” he said with a laugh. “Those things, I’m not supposed to know.”

Werenski made some history in the process, both when it comes to the Blue Jackets and the NHL. With his two points, he reached 80 on the season, making him just the second American-born defenseman in league history to post consecutive 80-point seasons, joining Hall of Famers Brian Leetch and Phil Housley. Werenski is also just the fifth active NHL defenseman with two 80-point seasons, joining Evan Bouchard, Roman Josi, Erik Karlsson and Cale Makar.

In CBJ annals, Werenski posted his 26th multipoint game of the season, passing Artemi Panarin (2018-19) for most in team history, while he passed Rick Nash (79 points, 2008-09) to move into fourth place in points in a single season in the team record book.

2. Adam Fantilli’s tying goal with 16.2 seconds left may have saved the Blue Jackets’ season.

When Detroit defenseman Justin Faulk stepped into a one-timer and beat Jet Greaves through a screen to give the Red Wings a 3-2 lead with just under five minutes to go, it’s fair to say the Jackets’ playoff hopes were on life support.

Ottawa and Philadelphia, the two teams the Blue Jackets are chasing for the final playoff spots, were on their way to wins elsewhere, and Columbus was staring at a potential four-point deficit with four games to go. It wouldn’t officially have been curtains on the season, but it would have required a lot of wins and a lot of help down the stretch.

But down to their last gasp, the Blue Jackets perfectly executed a faceoff play. With the draw on the left side of the ice, Sean Monahan won the puck to Kirill Marchenko along the wall, then he found Werenski at the top of the zone. The timing was perfect, as Werenski fed Fantilli for a one-timer from the right circle that snuck past goalie John Gibson to tie the game.

Suddenly, the Blue Jackets had life, and they made the most of it. Greaves made seven saves in overtime to keep the game alive, then Kent Johnson and Charlie Coyle – the latter in a must-score situation in the third round – tallied in the shootout before Werenski’s heroics.

“That speaks to the resiliency of this group,” Fantilli said. “Monny beared down in the dot there, two quick passes from Marchy and Z, and I knew it got over quick enough so I knew I was gonna have a lane. Thankfully, it went in. And then Jet did a phenomenal job in the shootout; KJ, Coyler, they were lights out. That was such a great team win. It was awesome.”

The situation also speaks to what a difference a few days can make. Down to the final seconds Saturday vs. Winnipeg, the Blue Jackets were in almost exactly the same situation down 2-1 in the final seconds and won the draw, but Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck got over to stop Fantilli’s one-timer to preserve the win.

This time, Fantilli got the puck to go his way, with a little help from his friends.

“The game against Winnipeg, Bucky’s is a big goalie and there wasn’t much room,” Bowness said. “Here he had a little bit more room and that was just a great shot. Obviously we had to win the faceoff. You can set up all these plays you want, but you better win the faceoff, so give Sean Monahan a great tip of the hat for that one because we don’t score without that. It’s just an awesome shot.”

3. With their backs against the wall, the Blue Jackets snapped a six-game losing streak with a team effort.

Hey, no one will look at the victory and say it was a perfect effort. Greaves (34 saves) had to stand on his head at times, including an overtime period where the Blue Jackets struggled to get much going. The penalty kill gave up its eighth goal in the last seven games, and there were still times a team that described itself as “disconnected” in the days leading up to the game made things harder on itself than it had to.

But a win is a win, and more than that, the Blue Jackets created a lot more scoring chances than recent games (35 shots on goal), got the forecheck going at times, and generally much more resembled the team that won 20 of 27 games from January to March against an equally desperate Detroit team.

“Listen, we worked our butt off for 60 minutes, as they did,” Bowness said. “That was a great hockey game. Both teams were laying it all on the line. You gotta love our effort. We’re down 3-2 in the last five minutes, but we didn’t give up and we kept pushing. There’s a lot of fight left in this group.”

Bowness noted the Blue Jackets had 10 scoring chances at 5-on-5 alone in the second period, and the analytics show the team turned in a strong performance, including an edge of 3.29-1.69 in expected goals at 5-on-5 per Natural Stat Trick.

“I think obviously it’s a massive win,” Werenski said. “We just wanted to focus on Detroit and getting through that, and we did that, so we’ll use all the good stuff in it and we’ll focus on Buffalo now. But guys stepped up. It was a good game from us I thought.”