Jackets improve grip on last place with 5-2 loss in Vancouver

Jan 28, 2023 - 6:04 AM

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The Blue Jackets lost another game by a three goal margin, losing to the Vancouver Canucks by a final score of 5-2. Kirill Marchenko continued his march toward the record books by scoring his 12th and 13th goals of the season before notching a single assist. The record is 16, and is over 100 years old. So at this point, they need to just go for it and give the fans something to root for.

As far as the game, the Jackets skated with Vancouver and after a sloppy and slow first half of the game, they did manage to turn it up a bit before allowing a few late goals in the third period. They looked ok for half of the game, but were never really a threat to win. Brock Boeser had a 4 point night, assisting on the first four Canuck goals. Their skill players showed up, and ours didnt.

Their top line spent most of their shifts chasing the puck or defending and the fourth line saw far too much ice time and produced negative results. That’s pretty much how it went down.

First Period

Before I could even take my first sip of coffee, the Blue Jackets were headed to the power play after J.T. Miller was penalized for slashing just barely a minute into the game.

Sadly, it took even less time for the Jackets to give up a shorty. Elias Pettersson scored on an odd man rush shorthanded. Patrik Laine turned the puck over at the blue line and it was off to the races. Less than ten seconds into the Jackets power play, they were losing 1-0.

1-0 VAN (Pettersson from Horvat)

Kirill Marchenko got the goal right back, deflecting a point shot from Adam Boqvist. It was his third in three games and 12th of the year.

1-1 (Marchenko from Boqvist and Laine)

A pretty open period followed with a lot of back and forth action. The Canucks probably could have scored a couple goals during this stretch, but a Korpisalo breakaway save and a Cole Sillinger blocked shot kept the game tied.

Sean Kuraly put the Canucks on the power play with seven minutes remaining. They wasted little time cashing in this time, with a Quinn Hughes point shot getting past Korpisalo. It went through a lot of traffic on its way to the net, possibly deflected by Bo Horvat.

2-1 VAN (Hughes from Miller and Horvat)

The Blue Jackets had another chance on the power play with almost three and half minutes remaining in the period. Vancouver proved strong on the kill not allowing much of anything to the Jackets.

Larsen followed up the power play by icing his fourth line to regain some momentum. Only problem was that they ended up getting pinned in their own end and getting scored on in the final minute of the period.

Ilya Mikheyev fired a shot as he crept in from the point that missed the net and bounced off the back wall at the perfect angle to hit the back of Korpisalo and into the net. Even though it was a fluky goal, that shouldn’t happen to a good fourth line. For as heavy usage as they get, they seem to be on the receiving end of a lot of those type of shifts. Sean Kuraly as the leader of that line was directly involved in both of the Canucks late period goals.

3-1 VAN (Mikheyev from Boeser and Horvat)

Second Period

The Canucks began the period in control of the play and really just dominated possession for the first half of this period. The Blue Jackets looked slow and disjointed, and it looked like Brad Larsen had already shortened the bench with the first and fourth line every other shift. Patrik Laine was his usual turnover-machine self, and that line spent most of the time chasing the puck or defending. Same for the fourth line, but they were getting scored on and committing penalties.

Mathieu Olivier took a high-sticking penalty five minutes into the period, giving the Canucks a chance to really blow it open. They failed to score on the power play, but they were still firmly in control at the halfway point of the game, only allowing a single shot to the Blue Jackets.

Larsen changed up the lines in the latter half of the second period thankfully, and the Jackets were marginally better, but still never really too much of a threat to score outside of an Emil Bemstrom shot that glanced off Delia’s glove.

Inside of the last two minutes of the period, Kirill Marchenko showed a strong mindset, stealing the puck from a Vancouver player in the defensive zone, and ended up drawing a penalty on an odd-man rush.

The power play was a slight improvement, but still nothing entered the net. The Blue Jackets carried over 14 seconds of power play time desperately needing a quick goal to have a shot.

Third Period

Columbus failed to do anything with their brief power play but did manage to play respectable hockey for stretches. Respectable hockey these days is simply not getting caved in, and defending for entire shifts. The Jackets didn’t really appear like much of a threat to score at any point, but still were carrying the play.

Despite the stronger play from the Blue Jackets, Vancouver provided the dagger almost halfway through the period. Adam Boqvist was defending an odd-man rush and deflected a cross-crease pass past Korpisalo giving Vancouver the 4-1 lead.

4-1 VAN (Joshua from Horvat and Boeser)

With 8 minuts left, Erik Gudbranson took an ill-timed holding penalty. It’s really late, so long story short, they scored again.

5-1 VAN (Pettersson from Miller and Hughes)

The Jackets had a chance to play for some pride when they got one last crack on the power play. It was too little too late, but it was nice to see Kirill Marchenko score his second of the night, banking a puck in off Delia from behind the net.

5-2 (Marchenko from Jenner and Gaudreau)

That was pretty much it. The Jackets committed a late penalty, but nothing came of it and time ran out.

Up Next

The Jackets wrap up their late night games (thank God) tomorrow — well tonight technically — against Oliver BJORKSTRAND and the Seattle Kraken.