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Columbus Blue Jackets surge past Winnipeg Jets to cap tough road trip with a boost
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- Columbus Blue Jackets surge past Winnipeg Jets to cap tough road trip with a boost
Facing the potential of returning from a five-game road trip on a four-game winless skid , the Blue Jackets avoided that outcome Sunday against the Winnipeg Jets .
Despite falling behind 1-0 while allowing a power-play goal for the 13th straight game , the Jackets (12-12-3) fought back with three straight goals of their own — including one by Dmitri Voronkov on a power play — to finish a long, frustrating trip with a 4-1 victory at Canada Life Centre.
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"I think it shows a lot of character," defenseman Ivan Provorov said in a postgame interview shown on FanDuel Sports Network. "I think (Friday in Vancouver ), we deserved better, and for us to not feel sorry for ourselves, stay focused and play the right way on the last game on a road trip, it shows a lot about this team. I think we've grown a lot since last year and I think we're trending in the right direction."
Dec 8, 2024; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Winnipeg Jets center Gabriel Vilardi (13) shoots on Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins (90) in the second period at Canada Life Centre. Mandatory Credit: James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images
Provorov played through a painful thumb injury that knocked him out of Friday's loss to the Vancouver Canucks in the second period. He left the ice with a left thumb bent at a shockingly unnatural angle, but played 23:07 two days later and assisted on the second of Kent Johnson 's two goals that provided the difference.
Johnson's linemate, left wing James van Riemsdyk , assisted on both of his goals and center Sean Monahan contributed to the first. The Jackets' other goals were scored by Voronkov on a power play in the second and Sean Kuraly , who sent the puck into an empty net with 1:22 left to seal the victory. Elvis Merzlikins earned the goaltending win with 24 saves during an impressive rebound from a tough loss in Vancouver that partially swung on his aggressive decision to play a puck far out of his net with a 2-1 lead.
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Johnson's goals were the difference.
He scored both in the third period, giving the Blue Jackets a 3-1 lead after Merzlikins made a series of stops to keep it tied 1-1 starting the frame. Johnson's first tally made it 2-1 after he poked the puck into the Winnipeg net off a Monahan deflection of Van Riemsdyk's shot. His second of the game, eighth of the season, capped a 2-on-1 rush with Van Riemsdyk that started with a perfect cross-ice feed and finished with a quick one-timer past Jets goalie Eric Comrie with 10:18 left to play.
Dec 8, 2024; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Winnipeg Jets goaltender Eric Comrie (1) makes a glove save watched by Winnipeg Jets center Rasmus Kupari (15) and Columbus Blue Jackets right wing Mathieu Olivier (24) in the first period at Canada Life Centre. Mandatory Credit: James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images
Kyle Connor scored the lone goal for the Jets (20-9-0), who'd won three straight games against the Blue Jackets dating to last season. That string included the Jets' 6-2 blowout win Nov. 1 at Nationwide Arena , which pushed their combined margin of victory to a whopping 17-3 during the streak.
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This game, finally, was a lot tighter for the Blue Jackets.
"It's just nice to back up what we did the other night (in Vancouver)," Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said during a postgame interview shown on the television broadcast. "We were really, really happy with the start. We went in and challenged the group that we (had) to start the same way. We certainly played the same type of game."
Neither team made it easy through the middle of the ice, which is why it was knotted at just 1-1 starting the third on power-play goals by Connor and Voronkov. Connor's tally extended the Blue Jackets' dubious streak of allowing man-advantage goals to 13 games, but they'd already killed three against the NHL's third-ranked team on power plays before Merzlikins was finally beaten.
Dec 8, 2024; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Columbus Blue Jackets right wing Kirill Marchenko (86) warms up before a game against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre. Mandatory Credit: James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images
Connor's goal put the Jets up 1-0 with 8:09 left in the second, but the Blue Jackets tied it two minutes later with a power-play goal of their own.
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Following a scrum behind the Winnipeg net, Sean Monahan sent a pass out to Zach Werenski high in the zone for a cross-ice setup to Kirill Marchenko on the left wing. Marchenko sent a slap pass toward the far post for Voronkov, who tucked the equalizer into the net for his seventh goal of the season.
That set the stage for a hotly contested third, which started with Merzlikins making a few big stops to keep the Jets from re-taking the lead on the first two shifts. Comrie returned serve at 6:50 of the third, denying Monahan with a dazzling glove save off a slapper to keep it 1-1, but the tie didn't last much longer thanks to the Blue Jackets' top forward line.
"It's definitely a good win," Merzlikins told reporters after the game. "We all remember how our trip was in California, right, and it was going on the same (winless) road here. I'm happy that we managed to handle it well, and, on the right note, finish this road trip."
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets ground Winnipeg Jets to finish trip with 4-1 win
