It was a dominant performance for two Russians at Nationwide Arena tonight – just not the ones suiting up for the home squad.
Andrei Vasilevskiy played lights-out for his third consecutive game, and Mikhail Sergachev scored the first two goals of his young career to put the Bolts up 2-0, and they didn’t look back from there.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLUE JACKETS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| LIGHTNING | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
End result: a 2-0 loss to drop the Blue Jackets to 5-2-0 on the season, and push Tampa up to 6-1-1.
Columbus dominated in shots, 43 to 22, continuing a trend we've seen so far this season. Another trend that continued – the power play struggled again, too, looking lost and struggling to keep possession and failing to score a goal in three attempts. Columbus is now a miserable 1-for-19 this season on the power play.
1:51 of zone time for the No. 1 power play unit produces one shot on goal, and it was a Wennberg wrist shot from 45 feet. #CBJ
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 20, 2017
The shot totals are the obvious positive, with Artemi Panarin, Cam Atkinson and Seth Jones leading the charge, but the Jackets did a good job of limiting chances for the Lightning.
The Jackets had their share of chances, but Vasilevskiy stood tall all night long.
Pretty good chance here for #CBJ near the end of that period, but they couldn't convert. pic.twitter.com/WhSA6iANlB
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 20, 2017
Of course, getting chances isn't the same as converting the chances, and the Jackets will walk away from tonight with the same number of points they woke up with this morning. It's a frustrating result, considering the shot totals against one of the Eastern Conference's best teams.
Injury Update
Boone Jenner has been skating with the team – and is still listed as day-to-day – but there's no definitive timetable to get him back into the lineup as he recovers from a back injury.
Next Up
The Blue Jackets play the second of their four-game homestand on Saturday, when the Los Angeles Kings come to town. The Kings will be without Blue Jackets villain Jeff Carter, who suffered a leg laceration earlier this week and is out indefinitely.
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