In Columbus, Johnny Gaudreau and the Blue Jackets welcomes th3 Calgary Flames to town and sent them packing with a 3- loss on Friday night.
“To see the way our team responded tonight was awesome,” Gaudreau said. “We were a lot smarter tonight with the puck. We weren’t feeding into their transition. It was a fun game to be a part of.”
Patrik Laine scored for the Blue Jackets in the first period to give them a 1-0 lead in the game.
“When the plays were there, we made them,” Laine said. “Overall, as a team, we played a pretty solid 60. A complete team effort.”
Joonas Korpisalo got the start for Columbus, he made 12 saves through the first period. He did not return to the match after the intermission, because of an apparent injury.
“After the first, [Korpisalo] had some discomfort in his lower body and we decided to take him out,” coach Brad Larsen said.
Elvis Merzlikins made 19 saves in 40 minutes of relief.
“The ‘D’ did really good tonight. They helped me out,” he said. “They let me get into the game. Second period, I didn’t have too many shots.”
Columbus improved to 9-15-2.
Michael Stone was the lone striker for the Flames, his goal came in the third period to cut the Columbus lead to 2-1 at the time.
Calgary dropped to 13-11-3.
“We had some guys who came for a visit, not to win a hockey game,” Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said. “Very disappointing. The big guys thought they were wheeler-dealers. Guys were wheeler-dealers, wouldn’t touch anybody, so that’s the way she goes.”
The Blue Jackets pushed their advantage to 2-0 in the middle frame on a breakaway goal from Eric Robinson.\”We had good energy,” Larsen said. “This was a heck of a game by a lot of guys. A really good effort all the way through. That was a solid game.”
Stone scored at 17:26 to make it 2-1, but Sean Kuraly hit for an empty-net goal with 22 seconds left in the game for the 3-1 final;
Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves in the Calgary loss.
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