Winning Thoughts: Blue Jackets deliver a present with win over Kings

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

BLUE JACKETS 3, KINGS 1

1. Even without Zach Werenski, the Blue Jackets turned in a strong defensive effort to down the Kings.

The good news is that the Norris Trophy-level defenseman is expected to be back after the Christmas break after taking a shot off his lower leg Saturday vs. Anaheim. The bad news on Monday night, though, was that Werenski wasn’t able to suit up against the Kings as those bumps and bruises healed.

With their standout blueliner out of the lineup, the Blue Jackets still got the job done, limiting Los Angeles’ offensive chances throughout the night. Despite giving the Kings five power-play chances, Columbus kept LA to just 24 shots on goal as well as the single tally.

“We did a lot of good things defensively as far as reloading and not allowing, you know, the odd-man rushes were down because we were doing the right things coming back to defend,” head coach Dean Evason said. “We need to do that each and every night.”

With Werenski a spectator, it took a team effort to turn in that type of performance. Denton Mateychuk stepped up to play a career-high 28:35 – including 5:39 on the power play and 6:02 on the penalty kill – while Ivan Provorov skated 27:12 and Damon Severson notched two assists. In net, goaltender Jet Greaves stopped 23 shots.

From his perspective, Greaves saw a team in front of him that turned in a dedicated defensive effort, and it marked just the fourth time all season the Blue Jackets allowed just one goal.

“I thought it was great,” Greaves said. “That’s something we’ve been speaking about a lot lately is just making sure the compete level and those little details are there because that’s what wins hockey games. I think it was a really good job of that tonight from the first period, second period all the way through the third. I think it was consistent the whole night, and that was positive as well.”

2. Mason Marchment's two-goal performance was another example of the jolt he’s given the Blue Jackets.

Acquired late Friday night before the NHL roster freeze from Seattle, Marchment couldn’t have made a better first – and second – impression with the Jackets.

After scoring in his CBJ debut Saturday night in Anaheim, Marchment did even better on Monday night, posting a pair of power-play goals in the first period. The first came when he deked around Joel Armia and surprised Anton Forsberg with a shot that the goalie got a piece of but couldn’t keep out, and the second was a shot from the blue line from Severson that went off Marchment’s chest and in the net.

It was 10th multigoal performance of Marchment’s career, but the big winger has his sights set on even more.

“Two is nice, three is better,” Marchment said. “Just trying to get some shots on net, and happy that one went in. Then the other one was a great shot from the point and it just went off my chest and in, so we’ll take it.”

Marchment made a bit of CBJ history, as well, becoming the first player with three goals in his first two games with the franchise. He has a fan in new linemate Kirill Marchenko, who could only smile when Marchment’s name was brought up.

“Whewwwww,” Marchenko said, “He’s an unbelievable player. He can score goals, he can make passes, he can do everything on the ice. I can just chill a little bit. I’m happy to play with this guy, and he can do everything on the ice. He scored two different goals today, one from shot and second one from tip, and it’s awesome.”

3. The Blue Jackets’ special teams stepped up in the victory.

Apparently, the Blue Jackets have a go-to present for CBJ fans around the holiday season – power-play goals.

Columbus notched three power-play goals in the win against Los Angeles, getting a trio of man-advantage tallies for the first time since Dec. 27 of last year.

‘Tis the season, it appears, as Marchment’s two tallies were supplemented by Kirill Marchenko’s five-hole snipe that served as an insurance maker with 5:44 to play.

“The power play was good,” Marchment said. “That’s a huge goal by Marchy to get up by two, and I thought all night we had a couple good chances and it’s fun to see.”

Don’t look now, but the CBJ power play could be described as dangerous. Columbus moved up to a tie for 12th in the NHL this season at 20.7 percent, and the Blue Jackets have 10 power-play tallies in the last 11 games while clicking at a 29.4 percent rate.

Even more impressive, though, might have been the CBJ penalty kill, which denied all five chances for the Los Angeles power play. The Blue Jackets finished the two-game swing through California perfect on all eight penalty kill chances. In that 7:46 of power-play time, the Kings had just three shots on goal.