Todd Richards Wins 100th Game As Head Coach Of Columbus Blue Jackets in 6-2 Rout of Boston

While not truly “fresh,” off the embarrassing loss to Nasvhille from Monday, you could tell it was very much fresh in the minds of the Columbus Blue Jackets who took control of the game at every opportunity en route to a complete rout of the Boston Bruins, 6-2, on their way to helping Todd Richards reach 100 victories as head man of the Blue Jackets. Congratulations to him!

The game started soooo slow, as both CBJ and the Bruins combined for four shots through the opening six minutes. Play eventually did pick up, and it would be Columbus who showed the first signs of good play, and they were the first ones to light the lamp, as Scott Hartnell, in his first game back since being activated off the IR, took the rebound from a blocked Kevin Connauton shot and went with a backhand to beat Bruins backup netminder Niklas Svedberg. 1-0 Jackets.

Not even half a minute later, 20 seconds to be exact, the Bruins tied things up as Patrice Bergeron found an opening from Curtis McElhinney that Mac never moved to close up. Tie game, and you start to think “oh boy, here we go again.”

Well, luckily, the Blue Jackets didn’t allow that to rattle them, as they played to the intermission tied and then rattled off the next three goals – another from Hartnell, one from Connauton and a power play tally from Nick Folingo – go to up 4-1. The only other Bruins score would come from an own goal, as a shot from Craig Cunningham was deflected, and wound up going off Jack Johnson’s glove and into the back of the net.

Luckily, that didn’t rattle the boys in blue either, as Matt Calvert and Jeremy Morin would start a play, create space and finish the play with a goal (for Morin, his first of the season and as a Blue Jacket). Boom. Your 6-2 final.

This was a game that Columbus needed, and one that – aside form the back half of the first period – they really dominated from start to finish. They bounced Svedberg after the 3-0 lead, but that didn’t seem to phase them as they put three goals up against Tuukka Rask as well. Columbus outshot Boston all night, was more physical and won more draws, putting together what might have been the best 60 minutes of the season.

Only one game remains in 2014 and that comes on New Years Eve as the Wild come to tango. Which means we have quite some time to relish this win. It certainly is worth doing so.