Columbus Blue Jackets Win Second In A Row After 4-2 Victory in Dallas

After an abysmal start to the 2015 year, the Columbus Blue Jackets have clinched at least a split of this four game road trip to open the year, after a close win in Colorado Sunday night and a 4-2 victory in the Lone Star State tonight, after jumping out to a 3-0 lead.

The first period was a rather sloppy one, on both sides, but when the opening 20 minutes came to a close, the Blue Jackets held a 2-0 lead. The opening goal had a bit of a question to it as exactly who it was who scored. James Wisniewski was the one who took the shot from the the point and it was redirected in front to light the lamp. Upon review, either one of two things happened – it deflected off of Dallas’ Ales Hemsky’s stick and trickled in or deflected off of Ryan Johansen’s stick. But, ultimately, Wiz was credited with the goal, and the Jackets took the first lead of the game.

Its a good thing that Joey is a bit of a greedy fellow, because he’d get the second goal for Columbus, this time without question and on the power play with a beautiful wrist shot that went top shelf (while still moving and without having to slow down) to give the Jackets a 2-0 lead.

The second period was much cleaner, but it also got much more physical and would have ended in a tie if not for the first goal of the frame coming from former Star Kevin Connauton from the blueline to give Columbus a 3-0 lead. The first Dallas goal of the night came thanks to the aforementioned Hemsky, and it was simply a good goal. No defensive breakdown (other than a lack of clearing the zone, but we’ll get to that in a minute), Sergei Bobrovsky was in good position…it was just a great shot that fed through the traffic and found the part of the net Bob wasn’t standing in.

The game became a one-goal affair when Antoine Roussel intercepted yet another failed zone-clear (again, I’ll get to it shortly), took a shot from the slot (fell to his knee in the process – it was actually very pretty) and buried it. 3-2.

The third period was tense from both sides – from Dallas desperately wanting to tie things up and with Columbus not wanting to blow a 3-0 lead – but it wasn’t until the closing stages in which Mark Letestu, in his first game back since his groin injury, scored to secure some separation and lead us to the final 4-2 score in favor of the Blue Jackets.

The main problem for the Jackets tonight was clearing the zone. Good gosh did they have tons of trouble doing that. It felt like the puck was in the Dallas offensive zone for handfuls of minutes at a time before Columbus could even get it to center ice. Super stressful and not fun. But, a win is a win.

Also, Dallas had tons of opportunities to score, but just about every shot went wide or they were too anxious to take hold of. Bob was solid in net, as usual, but made more “blocks” than “saves,” as he let a lot of rebounds that lead to second and third Stars’ chances as opposed to freezing the puck the first time around.

All in all, it was a much better game than you’d have thought it would be after starting 3-0, and the Jackets have started 2015 2-1 and will bring an end to their road trip Friday in Toronto.