Blue Jackets Rookies Kent Johnson and Marcus Bjork Both Score but the Jackets Fall 4-2 to the Red Wings

By Coby Maeir on December 4, 2022 at 8:50 pm
Detroit Red Wings
Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
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A better effort against Detroit, but the same result.

Despite goals from rookies Kent Johnson and Marcus Bjork and a relatively even game at five-on-five that was decided by two Detroit power-play goals, the Blue Jackets lost to the Red Wings 4-2 at Nationwide Arena Sunday night.

1st period

Detroit opened the scoring at the 6:34 mark when Austin Czarnik deflected Jonatan Berggren's feed past Korpisalo from the left doorstep. 

The Jackets had a chance to even the score with under 12 minutes to play when Patrik Laine and Boone Jenner went on a two-on-one but Laine's pass from the right circle to Jenner at the left circle was deflected by Ben Chiarot. The puck ended up on Kent Johnson's stick but he was denied from the slot by Red Wings goalie Ville Husso.

With around four minutes left in the period, Jack Roslovic passed to Johnson from the right circle to the left doorstep, but his pass barely missed Johnson's stick. 

Detroit doubled its lead on the power play when Dominik Kubalik scored on a one-timer from the right circle on the power play with 2:24 left in the period. 

  1 2 3 F
BLUE JACKETS 0 1 1 2
DET RED WINGS 2 1 1 4

The Red Wings took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission along with a 13-8 edge in shots on goal.

2nd period

A depleted Blue Jackets roster took another hit as Vladislav Gavrikov left the game early in the period after taking a puck to the face. He did return to the game.

Adding insult to injury, the Red Wings took a 3-0 lead on a five-on-three power play as Lucas Raymond found the back of the net from the left goal line at 7:03. 

Detroit nearly added to its lead when Jake Christiansen tried a backhand pass in his own zone that was taken away by Pius Suter who was denied by Korpisalo. That chance led to a three-on-one chance the other way but Laine's pass to Gaudreau was deflected. 

The Jackets got on the board with a power-play goal of their own as Marcus Bjork scored his first-ever goal at Nationwide Arena, firing a wrist shot from the high slot past Husso.

Detroit took a 3-1 lead into the second intermission in addition to a 24-18 edge in shots on goal. 

3rd period

The Jackets scored first in the third period to cut the Detroit lead in half as Gaudreau skated down the left-wing side, got behind the net, and slid a pass to Johnson who scored from the right doorstep at the 1:58 mark. 

About 90 seconds later, Dylan Larkin fired a wrist shot by Korpisalo from the right circle, but the Blue Jackets successfully challenged the play for offside so the goal was taken off the board. 

The Red Wings scored their fourth goal with 13:52 left in regulation as Andrew Copp took a sharp-angle shot from the left goal line that beat Korpisalo top-shelf. 

The Jackets pulled Korpisalo with 2:30 to go and had a six-on-four power play for the final 1:48 of the game. They generated several grade-A chances, one from Gaudreau and two from Jenner, but couldn't convert. Columbus falls to 8-13-2 on the season. 

Stats

  • Shots on Goal: DET 35-34 CBJ
  • Faceoff %: DET 51.7-48.3 CBJ
  • Power play: DET 2/5-1/3 CBJ
  • Takeaways: DET 6-5 CBJ
  • Giveaways: DET 8-10 CBJ
  • Blocked shots: DET 11-12 CBJ
  • Hits: DET 13-13 CBJ
  • 5-on-5 stats (via naturalstattrick.com):
    • Expected Goals (xG): DET 1.61-1.51 CBJ
    • Chances (CF): DET 40-34 CBJ
    • Shots (SF): DET 23-19 CBJ
    • Scoring Chances (SCF): DET 15-16 CBJ
    • High-Danger Chances (HDCF): DET 7-7 CBJ

Injury Update

Gavrikov left tonight's game in the second period after taking a puck to the face but returned in the third period.

Mathieu Olivier missed his third-straight game with an illness.

Next Up

Next up for the Jackets is a matchup with the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET on Bally Sports Ohio. 

The Blue Jackets will be back on the ice Wednesday night against the Buffalo Sabres in Columbus at 7:30 p.m. ET on TNT. 

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