How 'bout that.
Less than 24 hours after a 6-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night, the Columbus Blue Jackets were right back at it to take on the New York Rangers from Madison Square Garden on Sunday afternoon.
The (3-2-1) Rangers had been off since Thursday when they lost to the San Jose Sharks, 3-2, in overtime.
The only lineup change for the Blue Jackets was Liam Foudy seeing his first action this season after Justin Danforth left Saturday's game with an upper-body injury.
Daniil Tarasov was back in the net for the first time since the home opener against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He earned his first career win, 5-1, stopping 30 of 31 shots while Jaroslav Halak made 16 saves on 21 shots.
Full 60, Maybe?
In what's been a constant storyline for the Blue Jackets, they turned in their best complete effort of the season.
On Tuesday and Thursday of last week, the Blue Jackets got down early in both games to the Vancouver Canucks and Nashville Predators, allowing two first period goals in both games before mounting comebacks.
On Saturday night, the Blue Jackets saw their 3-1 lead disappear en route to a 6-3 loss.
The spurts have been there in multiple games this season, but the Blue Jackets had yet to put together a full 60-minute effort.
Knowing how good the Rangers are, and having to travel to play the second of the back-to-back, it definitely wasn't going to be easy, but it was an opportunity to turn the page.
The first period was more of a feeling out for one another. Though the Rangers held the advantage in shots and dictated more of the offensive flow for most of the period, Zach Werenski's goal at 17:54 broke the scoreless tie. Liam Foudy picked up the first of two assists on the night.
End of P1: #CBJ 1-0 #NYR
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) October 23, 2022
5v5 stats (via @NatStatTrick):
xG: CBJ 0.79-0.82 NYR
CF: CBJ 14-20 NYR
SF: CBJ 7-9 NYR
SCF: CBJ 8-10 NYR
HDCF: CBJ 5-3 NYR
Andrew Peeke continued the momentum, scoring his first goal of the season at 1:42 of the second period. Jack Roslovic picked up the first of his two assists. He now has one goal and four assists in the last three games. Jake Voracek also picked up two assists in the game.
Peeke with his first. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/qcA85pbWRK
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 23, 2022
Yegor Chinakhov fired a wrist shot for his first goal of the season at 9:00. Foudy's second assist came on this goal, and Jake Bean picked up his first.
Things you love to see. Foudy gets his second assist and Bean picks up the. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/Jc05RtT2V0
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 23, 2022
Artemi Panarin converted unassisted on a 5-on-3 opportunity at 18:44 of the second period but the Blue Jackets found themselves up 3-1 in consecutive days as they entered the third period.
There's still room for improvement as the Blue Jackets were outshot 31-21 and lost the face-off battle 34-17, yet they managed to pull off a big win against their division rivals with two more third period goals.
Things You Like To See
A couple of the aforementioned players made big contributions on Sunday afternoon.
Foudy picked up his first two points of the year in his season debut, playing 13:23 and registering one shot on goal. Roslovic continued a three-game point streak. Chinakhov scored his first goal of the season on a mean wrister to give him five points (one goal, four assists) this season.
Eric Robinson scored his first of the season (Erik Gudbranson, Sean Kuraly) at 14:13 and Kent Johnson scored his second goal in as many nights 44 seconds later at 14:57 with Voracek and Roslovic each getting another assist.
This one made it 4-1. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/K1wVJpyOKw
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 23, 2022
Johnson is feeling it now. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/7VNjCxWzMi
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 23, 2022
The secondary scoring is nice and you hope Cole Sillinger is around the corner as he's still searching for his first point through seven games. Johnny Gaudreau's five-game point streak is over and Nick Blankenburg left the game after an awkward collision into Kaapo Kakko.
Tarasov's First Win
Tarasov played well after seeing his first action in over two weeks. He thwarted a first period two-on-one chance by Ryan Carpenter and looked the part all game, as he has shown in five career starts coming in.
What's particularly intriguing was that Tarasov handled a pretty decent workload from the Rangers, and looked good doing it, before Columbus limited the Rangers to six third period shots. Tarasov was the first star of the game.
The win gives the Blue Jackets four out of six points against the Predators, Penguins, and Rangers. If things go differently in the second half of Saturday's game, you're feeling pretty good about things overall, and you absolutely take four of six points entering those three games.
It looks like Tarasov bought himself more looks in between the pipes in the coming days, especially with Elvis Merzlikins struggling.
A Little Rest
The Blue Jackets take on the 1-4-0 Arizona Coyotes from Nationwide Arena on Tuesday at 7:00 pm ET. The Coyotes lost at home to the Ottawa Senators, 6-2, on Saturday.
