| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
 |
1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
|
CBJ GOALS: |
||||
Not an ideal start to the post-Olympic break playoff push for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Kirill Marchenko and Adam Fantilli scored early and late, but former Blue Jacket goaltender Joonas Korpisalo made 36 saves for the Boston Bruins on Thursday night in a 4-2 win over Columbus.
The loss ended Columbus' seven-game winning streak.
Marchenko scored on a breakaway in the first five minutes of the game to give the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead, but the Bruins would tie it later in the period and then take a 2-1 lead in the second period.
Boston would extend their lead to 3-1 in the third period when another former Blue Jacket, Sean Kuraly, beat goaltender Elvis Merzlikins with a slapshot just over halfway through the period.
Fantilli's goal with 6:15 left in regulation cut the Boston lead to 3-2, but Viktor Arvidsson — who scored the first goal of the night for the Bruins — came up with an empty-net tally to seal the deal on a Columbus regulation loss.
Merzlikins finished with 19 saves on 22 shots. Korpisalo, the First Star of the game, finished with 36 saves on 38 shots.
Here's more on how the Blue Jackets came up short in Beantown:
1st Period:
(4:32 — CBJ Goal): Marchenko gives the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead in the first five minutes on a breakaway goal. The sequence starts when Adam Fantilli busts up a pass in the Boston zone, inadvertently getting the puck to Mason Marchment — who then sees Marchenko jump ahead of the Bruins defense. Marchment quickly gets a hard pass ahead to Kirill, who beats Joonas Korpisalo to start the scoring.
Here's the goal from Kirill Marchenko, picking up right where he left off before the break. #CBJpic.twitter.com/4CGgKj7M72
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) February 27, 2026
(15:51 — BOS Goal): The Bruins tie it up in the final five minutes of the frame with Arvidsson the beneficiary of a deflection goal. He fires the puck from along the boards and it deflects off the stick of Damon Severson and then past Merzlikins to tie the game at 1-1.
Viktor Arvidsson. 1-1 pic.twitter.com/8IVDKRig9v
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) February 27, 2026
2nd Period:
(6:54 — BOS Goal): Our Thursday morning game preview said that as David Pastrnak and Geekie go, so go the Bruins. That's exactly what happened here on the Boston power play, as Pasta provides Geekie with a great look and he has no problem burying it to give the Bruins their first lead of the game at 2-1.
Morgan Geekie PPG. 2-1 pic.twitter.com/oSocyG9fXN
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) February 27, 2026
3rd Period:
(11:15 — BOS Goal): Just a goal that can't be given up in the situation. Kuraly skates up from near center ice and fires a slapshot from the back of the red dot, beating Merzlikins to extend the Bruins lead to 3-1.
Sean Kuraly makes it 3-1 for the Bs with his 5th goal of the season. #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/lO2nvlPAa0
— Jack Aylmer (@Jack_Aylmer) February 27, 2026
(13:45 — CBJ Goal): A good, what appeared to be designed entry into the zone cuts the Boston to 3-2 with Fantilli's 14th goal of the season. Marchment gets a pass from along the boards into the slot, where Fantilli is waiting and snaps one past Korpisalo to make it a one-goal game.
Adam Fantilli cuts the Boston lead to one. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/OLkRouffCV
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) February 27, 2026
(19:27 — BOS Goal): Arvidsson connects on the empty-netter to put the icing on Boston's victory.
| CBJ | GAME STATS | BOS |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | SHOTS | 23 |
| 41% | FACEOFFS | 59% |
| 0/1 | POWER PLAY | 1/3 |
| 2/3 | PENALTY KILL | 1/1 |
| 24 | HITS | 20 |
| 18 | GIVEAWAYS | 15 |
| 6 | TAKEAWAYS | 8 |
| 11 | BLOCKED SHOTS | 20 |
| ALL SITUATIONS ADVANCED STATS | ||
| 77 | SHOT ATTEMPTS | 58 |
| 42 | SCORING CHANCES | 30 |
| 17 | HIGH-DANGER CHANCES | 12 |
| Advanced Data Via NaturalStatTrick.com | ||
Stat Chat:
-
Columbus' 40 shots on goal was the most the Blue Jackets have had since Rick Bowness' first game behind the bench on Jan. 13, when they had 43 in a 5-3 win over the Calgary Flames.
-
The Blue Jackets are really good at scoring first: this was the 20th time in the last 26 games that it was 1-0 Columbus after the first goal of the night.
- The second period doomed the Blue Jackets in this one. They had just nine shots on goal, eight scoring chances, and two high-danger chances in the middle frame. By comparison, they averaged 17 scoring chances and 16 shots on goal per period in the other 40 minutes of play.
Up Next:
One more game before the calendar flips over to March, and it's Saturday night when the Blue Jackets return home for a big battle against one of the teams they're chasing: the New York Islanders. Puck-drop is an hour earlier than normal and will come at 6:00 p.m.
