Blue Jackets Fall to Avalanche's Third-Period Rally

By Jacob Nitzberg on February 8, 2020 at 9:29 pm
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Welp.

The Blue Jackets played well and probably should have gotten two points tonight, but a difficult ending to the third period saw the Avalance get the win.

Seth Jones scored the lone goal for the Blue Jackets.

  1 2 3 F
BLUE JACKETS 0 1 0 1
AVALANCHE 0 0 1 2

The first period didn't see much action offensively from either team, but there was a scare for the Blue Jackets when defenseman Jones went down awkwardly with a leg injury. 

Jones headed to the locker room and remained there for the remainder of the first period. As the second period began, Blue Jackets fans breathed a collective sigh of relief as Jones took the ice again.

As the Blue Jackets pushed for the opening goal, Jones found himself with space on the power play and made no mistake. 

The second period ended with the Blue Jackets up, 1-0.

In the third period, it was all Columbus. They hit multiple posts and crossbars but weren't able to add an insurance goal. 

Although the Blue Jackets dominated, the Avalanche scored with 8 minutes left on just their second shot on goal of the period. Nathan Gerbe turned the puck over in the defensive zone when he could have cleared the puck, and Nazem Kadri sniped it top corner to tie the game.

Just over three minutes later, Nathan MacKinnon scored another snipe that Elvis Merzlikins got a piece of but couldn't stop, making the score 2-1. That's how the game would finish.

Injury Update

Defenseman Seth Jones left the game with a leg injury in the first period but returned for the start of the second. Josh Anderson and Joonas Korpisalo have been skating, but their return dates are unknown. 

Next Up

The Blue Jackets will host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night to wrap up their four-game homestand. Puck drop is slated for 7:30 p.m. at Nationwide Arena.

Game Notes

  • Columbus lost its first game in regulation since Jan. 9 at San Jose as the club had its 10-game point streak (9-0-1) snapped.
  • The loss also concludes Columbus’ season-high six-game home win streak.  It was tied for the fourth-longest home win streak in franchise history (3x, MR: 3/24-4/10/15).
  • Tonight’s contest completes the Blue Jackets’ season series with Colorado, with Columbus falling in both contests (0-2-0).  The next time the two clubs will face off in the regular season will be in the 2020 Global Series in Helsinki, Finland.
  • The Blue Jackets managed two points from their Friday-Saturday back-to-back (1-1-0).  The loss snapped CBJ’s streak of four-straight wins in the second game of a back-to-back set.
  • Columbus outshot Colorado, 32-to-22 in the game.
  • The Blue Jackets went 1-for-5 on the power play in the game and have now scored twice on the man-advantage in their past four home games (2-for-11, 18.1 pct.)
  • Columbus went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill in the game.  The Blue Jackets have killed off 31-of-33 penalties on home ice over their last 13 home games (93.9 pct.).  The club’s 93.9 pct. penalty kill rate at home since Dec. 16 leads the NHL.
  • CBJ finished with more hits (20-to-16) and blocked shots (16-to-11) than Colorado in the game.
  • D Seth Jones scored his sixth goal of the season for the game’s first goal.  He has 2-3-5 in his last seven contests and a four-game point streak vs. Colorado (2-3-5).  His 10 points (2-8-10) in 17 career games vs. the Avalanche are his second-most versus a Western Conference team (Winnipeg, 5-10-15).
  • G Elvis Merzlikins made 20 saves in the game, suffering his first loss in his last nine starts. Colorado’s first goal in the third period snapped his shutout streak at 174:40, the third-longest scoreless run in franchise history.
  • C Boone Jenner had the lone assist on Jones’ goal, giving him points in back-to-back contests (1-1-2).  He has 1-4-5 in his last five contests vs. Colorado.
  • D Zach Werenski had a team-high 26:37 TOI.
  • RW Cam Atkinson led all CBJ skaters with four shots in the contest.
  • LW Nick Foligno had two shots, two hits and won 6-of-9 faceoffs on 23:50 TOI, which paced all Blue Jackets’ forwards.  It’s his second-straight game topping 23 minutes of ice time (23:43 TOI on Feb. 7 vs. DET).
  • Tonight’s attendance was a sellout crowd of 19,022, the Blue Jackets’ largest crowd of the season.
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