COLUMBUS, Ohio — To be clear, the post-game fireworks celebration inside Nationwide Arena was launched after Saturday’s game to celebrate New Year’s Eve, not because the Blue Jackets finally ended a mammoth losing streak.
But indoor explosives can serve two purposes, right?
The Blue Jackets hadn’t won a game in nearly three weeks and hadn’t had so much as a lead in 10 days, so a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks was desperately needed. The seven-game losing streak was just one short of a franchise record.
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“One thing you learn is that winning never gets old,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “We needed this. We needed it for team morale.”
Gus Nyquist scored two goals, while Emil Bemstrom and Kirill Marchenko each added scores. Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo had a relatively easy day for two periods, then made 13 of his 26 saves in the third period.
The Blackhawks are dead-last in the NHL standings and they have only three road wins (3-11-2) all season, but a sold-out crowd of 18,280 in Nationwide wasn’t grading on a curve. The Jackets hadn’t won since Dec. 11 vs. Los Angeles.
To get over the hump, it took several superlative performances by Blue Jackets players.
Nyquist not only ended his personal nine-game streak without a goal, but he became the first Blue Jackets player — that’s 22-plus seasons — to score two short-handed goals in a single game.
His goal at 3:50 of the second period came off a short-handed rush with Jack Roslovic, and he and Roslovic spun Blackhawks defenders Seth Jones and Max Domi in circles as the puck entered the Chicago zone.
it's even better in slow mo 🤌 pic.twitter.com/33pi3OFxba
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) December 31, 2022
That goal put the Blue Jackets ahead 2-1, giving them a lead for the first time since the second period of a loss in Philadelphia on Dec. 20. In that game, the lead dwindled after only 83 seconds, but on Saturday they built upon it.
“It feels like most of our games we’ve been down, trying to come back,” Nyquist said. “It makes a big difference.”
Marchenko scored with three seconds left in the second period to make it 3-1 and Nyquist sailed home an empty-net goal with 38.5 seconds remaining to cap the scoring.
“You can play a lot smarter with the lead,” Johnny Gaudreau said. “They have to take the chances. You get a lot more odd-man rushes and opportunities when you’re playing well and taking leads because the other team is pinching to the offensive side of the puck.”
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Blue Jackets right winger Emil Bemstrom may have played the best game of his NHL career, which is saying something because Bemstrom had a hat trick in a late-season game two years ago.
Bemstrom had a power-play goal late in the first period that tied the game at one. Gaudreau fed him the puck for a one-timer on the left side of the slot, his second goal in two games since he was recalled from AHL Cleveland and his fourth in nine games total this season.
Bemmer tying it up 🪢 pic.twitter.com/G64V6HX5CZ
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) December 31, 2022
But two moments stood out for Bemstrom beyond his goal.
The first came just moments before the power play on which he scored. Bemstrom muffed a shot off a two-on-one, firing the puck wide off the rush. It’s the kind of flub that would have sent him reeling on previous recalls, but this time he just kept going.
The second was in the third period after Bemstrom’s good night was well underway. At 6:59 of the third, Bemstrom hounded the puck away from a Chicago player and started a sequence that led to a golden scoring chance for Roslovic, who fired off the post.
Bemstrom had a puck hunger he’s rarely shown.
“He played really well,” Gaudreau said of Bemstrom. “He’s a smart player. He had a couple of really good opportunities. We can use him to keep playing like that.”
Bemstrom is currently on the roster under an “emergency” recall, replacing winger Patrik Laine, who is out of the lineup with an illness. If Laine returns to health next week — he skated in the early morning Saturday — Bemstrom could be changed to a regular recall.
It’s hard to imagine him going back to AHL Cleveland off that performance. He finished the game with six shots on goal and 11 shot attempts, both game-highs.
“It’s a positive sign, and hopefully he can continue to build off that,” Larsen said.
FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK 💥💥 pic.twitter.com/5V1jlp9536
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) December 31, 2022
Gaudreau’s two assists were his 26th and 27th of the season. More impressively, they were his 80th and 81st of the calendar year 2022. That’s one short of the NHL record by a U.S.-born player. Craig Janney (Boston/St. Louis) had 82 assists in 1992.
Those same assists were Gaudreau’s 118th and 119th points this calendar year, the third-most ever scored by a U.S.-born player. Pat LaFontaine (Buffalo) had 140 points in 1992 and Matthew Tkachuk (Calgary, Florida), Gaudreau’s former teammate, had 121.
(Photo: Russell LaBounty / USA Today)
