The Columbus Blue Jackets blew out the New York Islanders on Friday night to kick off the 2017-18 season, but they could not replicate that performance against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. The Blackhawks were aggressive and precise, leading to a lopsided victory for them.
After winning 5-0 in the season opener at home, Columbus Blue Jackets fans were feeling good and ready to dominate for the rest of the season. But they came back down to reality on Saturday when the Jackets were dominated by the Blackhawks in Chicago, 5-1.
The scoring started early for Chicago as Patrick Kane was left all alone on the right hash (thanks, Jack Johnson). Kane doesn’t miss many of those chances and he didn’t this time either as he fired the puck right past Joonas Korpisalo to make 1-0 Hawks just 1:33 into the game.
Former Blue Jacket Brandon Saad was up next on the goal-scoring column as the 24-year-old was given a perfect opportunity after the puck popped loose from a mad scramble involving Korpisalo. Saad put it away easily just over six minutes into the game to make it a 2-0 advantage.
Watch: Brandon Saad's First Goal Against CBJ
After failing to capitalize on a good chance in Chicago’s zone just moments earlier, the Blue Jackets conceded another goal. Seth Jones, while handling the puck behind his own net, was rocked by Richard Panik, knocking the puck loose and into Chicago’s favor. Brandon Saad gathered the puck and zipped it over to Jonathan Toews, who buried the puck in the net off of a slap shot.
The Blue Jackets were finally able to respond as Nick Foligno raced down the right side of the ice with the puck. As he closed in on the net, he tried to throw the puck in front to either Sonny Milano or Matt Calvert. The puck never got to where he was trying to get it as it ricocheted off of Ryan Hartman‘s leg to head toward the open part of the net. Right before the puck crossed the line, Milano jabbed at it to make sure it went in and in the process, secured his second goal of the season and his career.
Just minutes later, the Blackhawks put another one on the board as Patrick Kane delivered an incredibly accurate pass across the CBJ zone to Jan Rutta, who fired it into the net before Joonas Korpisalo could adjust to Rutta’s position.
The final goal of the game nearly three-fourths of the way into the third period. Right off the faceoff in the Blue Jackets’ zone, Richard Panik grabbed the unattended puck and fired it in to the net.
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Reaction
Although this was an awful loss that saw the Chicago Blackhawks just outclass the Columbus Blue Jackets, it’s not the end of the world. There is definitely a lot of work to be done on the defensive end and on taking care of the puck for the CBJ, but there were some bright spots.
Korpisalo played decent when the defense decided to help him out. Despite not getting into the points column, Pierre-Luc Dubois showed some good puck-handling and Sonny Milano scored his second goal of the season.
The guys looked pretty tired in just the second game of the season, but this is kind of to be expected when you’re immediately thrust into a back-to-back right off the start. Sergei Bobrovsky will likely be back for Tuesday’s matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes so getting another two points there will right the wrongs from this game.