The Blue Jackets did not score the game’s first goal until 11:08 of the second period.
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“On that play there we knew we only had so much time so it looked like we had more of a shooting mentality”, Penguins said. The Blue Jackets had led 2-0 only once previously during a season that began with an eight-game losing streak.
“Still a work in progress, but I like where we are right now”, defenseman Zbynek Michalek said. Left winger Boone Jenner, left winger Brandon Saad and center Ryan Johansen also scored for the Blue Jackets.
Blue Jackets right wing Brandon Saad scored the Jackets’ fifth and final goal on Saturday with a wicked wrist shot off the rush that pinged off a post before it gave the Jackets a 5-2 lead with 4:42 remaining.
The teaching has only just begun and they still have a long way to go to dig themselves out of this self-imposed hole.
“They’re a few tough buildings that we went to and we won”, Michalek said.
The Coyotes started to push back in the latter stages of the first period and continued to play that way for much of the middle stanza. Mike Smith had 16 saves.
The ensuing power-play goal by the Blue Jackets. They’d given up nine goals in the previous two games.
Monahan’s first goal came at 1:28 of the third period.
“We were flat”, Tortorella said. “We were holding on”.
For a variety of reasons, this one felt really good.
Jarred Boll’s late poke of the puck under Smith’s glove ignited a skirmish that energized the Blue Jackets and their fans.
Arizona coach Dave Tippett was miffed as to how his club ended up down a man. “That’s what you’ve got to do”.
From that moment, Columbus revved it up. It was the first of two power play goals for Columbus. Bursting inside the Arizona zone, Cam Atkinson took a low, hard shot. OEL was in prime position to put home a rebound on Sergei Bobrovsky. “Sometimes I had to step up, and sometimes the guys had big blocked shots”.
His confidence on the night was infectious, as the rest of the team saw what he was doing and enabled them to get back to supporting him better.
It was one game, but you could tell something was different.
Karlsson finished a 3-on-2 pass from Scott Hartnell 1:39 in on a quick Columbus breakout. Four minutes later on the power play, Johansen scored from the left circle for his second and first in 14 games.
Duclair put the Coyotes on the board at 12:09 with his seventh, one-timing a 2-on-1 pass from Martin Hanzal.
“That’s the thing that was missing in my game, and I’m just happy that I got my first – and second”, Karlsson said.
Dubinsky has landed on injured reserve with an elbow injury and will miss 2-to-3 weeks, per Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella. Pittsburgh is now 5-3 at home and is also 5-3 on the road.
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NOTES: Blue Jackets D Ryan Murray was expected to be a healthy scratch despite being third on the team with an average ice time of 20:36.
