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Columbus Blue Jackets continue offensive onslaught in 6-3 victory over Chicago Blackhawks
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- Columbus Blue Jackets continue offensive onslaught in 6-3 victory over Chicago Blackhawks
Now, that's how to start a five-game road trip.
Playing their second straight game with an afternoon start , the Blue Jackets downed the Chicago Blackhawks 6-3 at United Center to earn their second straight victory and improve to 5-0-1 during a six-game point streak.
Dec 1, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets right wing Mathieu Olivier (24) and Chicago Blackhawks center Ryan Donato (8) go for the puck during the first period at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images
Ivan Provorov , Kent Johnson , Sean Monahan , Dante Fabbro , Kirill Marchenko and Dmitri Voronkov scored goals for the Blue Jackets (11-9-3), who got multi-point performances from Monahan, Damon Severson (three assists), Cole Sillinger (two assists), and Zach Werenski (two assists).
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Werenski's assists pushed his point streak to eight straight games to set a new franchise high for a Blue Jackets defenseman. Werenski, Jaroslav Spacek and Bryan Berard shared the previous record at seven straight games.
"We just played simple," Werenski told reporters in Chicago. "We played hard. We didn't give up much 5-on-5. Obviously, they had (three) power-play goals that we'd like to clean up, but I thought we just played a steady game. ... I'm really happy with how we played today."
Dec 1, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins (90) and defenseman Dante Fabbro (15) celebrate their win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images
Connor Bedard , Craig Smith and former Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno scored goals for the Blackhawks (8-14-2), who dropped their second straight game. Elvis Merzlikins made 28 saves to pick up the goaltending win for Columbus , while Chicago's Petr Mrazek took the loss.
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Chicago opened the scoring on Bedard's goal to cap a power play 2:59 into the game, but Columbus carried a 2-1 lead into the first intermission on response goals from Provorov and Johnson.
Dec 1, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard (98) looks to pass against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the first period at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images
Provorov's second goal of the season tied it 1-1 less than two minutes after Bedard's goal, and that was followed by Johnson's one-timer from the right wing with 8:37 left in the first to give the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead. Smith pulled Chicago into a 2-2 tie at 3:00 of the second by scoring during the Blackhawks' second power, which made the Blue Jackets pay for Dmitri Voronkov 's 17 minutes of penalties following his response to a hit by Connor Murphy that bloodied Marchenko's mouth.
Voronkov was given an instigating minor, a 10-minute misconduct for instigating plus a fighting major for a scrap that included Murphy pulling his jersey over his head. The resulting penalties angered Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason, who'd just watched Calgary Flames forward Martin Pospisil get only a fighting major while doing the same thing just two days earlier in the Jackets' 5-2 win at Nationwide Arena .
Dec 1, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy (5) and Columbus Blue Jackets left wing Dmitri Voronkov (10) fight during the second period at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images
The game, however, stayed tied for just 1:50 before Monahan put Blue Jackets back on top, 3-2, on his eighth goal of the season. That became a trend in the game, as Columbus responded to all three Chicago goals in short order.
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"We kept battling," Evason said. "We had some adversity and some penalties in different situations, and some things that probably could've rattled our group and it didn't. So, it was a good win in that regard, for sure."
Fabbro pushed it to 4-2 at 3:08 of the third on his third goal of the season, all scored for Columbus in nine games after being claimed off waivers from the Nashville Predators .
Dec 1, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dante Fabbro (15) and Chicago Blackhawks center Jason Dickinson (16) go for the puck during the first period at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images
The Blackhawks pulled within one goal again, 4-3, on a tap-in to cap a 5-on-3 power play by their captain, Foligno, but Marchenko's 10thgoal of the season restored a two-goal cushion for Columbus, 5-3, with 9:08 left in the third.
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Voronkov also netted a "response" goal of sorts by getting to a loose puck and firing it from his own zone into an empty net for a 6-3 lead with 1:26 left. It was the seventh time in the season's first 23 games the Blue Jackets have scored at least six goals in a game, and they're 7-0-0 in those tilts. Their offense is scorching since a six-game winless skid to start November that included an 0-4-1 road trip and no games with more than two goals despite generating plenty of shots and scoring chances.
"I think we're just groovin' right now," Fabbro said. "The team's in a good spot right now, but we're hungry and it's a lot of fun to be out there on the ice."
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets rout Blackhawks in Chicago
