It wasn't perfect, but the Blue Jackets ' third period Friday night at Nationwide Arena was a starting point.
Their goal remains to become a team that puts a vice grip on late leads, but winning 5-2 over the St. Louis Blues will suffice despite being outshot 24-6 in the third period.
Outshot 43-22 overall, the Blue Jackets (9-15-5) won thanks to three goals in the third that turned a 2-1 lead into a cushion that allowed them to halt a three-game slide . That's not a long-term recipe for success, but the Jackets began to play more aggressively with a late lead — especially leading up to Yegor Chinakhov 's first of two goals in the third.
"Tonight was a huge commitment," Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. "We talked about confidence in our compete (level) and who we are as a team and our DNA, and that's what they brought. Really proud of them."
The Jackets also got goals from Kirill Marchenko , Adam Fantilli and Alexandre Texier to help rookie goalie Jet Greaves earn his first NHL win with a sterling 41-save outing in his second career start.
Here are five takeaways:
Almost lost in the Jackets' postgame celebration was the status of captain Boone Jenner , who left in the second period after being struck in the face by Blue Jackets defenseman Ivan Provorov 's shot.
Jenner was parked in front of the Blues' net when Provorov's shot from the point slammed straight into his mouth/jaw area. Play was stopped, with 7:51 left in the period, Jenner headed straight to the locker room and couldn't return. Vincent didn't have an immediate medical update after the game but foretold his six-week absence with a broken jaw.
"I've been told that it's probably 'worse' (news) than good," Vincent said.
Hockey coaches aren't usually given that kind of assessment by the medical staff unless an injury is serious enough to require significant time to heal. Jenner's health is the most important thing to consider with the news, but the Jackets' lineup without him is second.
He leads as captain by setting an examples on and off the ice. Jenner is the Jackets' leader with 13 goals and takes the majority of key faceoffs during power plays, penalty kills and 5-on-5 draws inside the defensive zone late in games. He's one of the NHL's best at camping in front of the net, whether at even-strength or during power plays.
Sean Kuraly and Justin Danforth split center duties the remainder of the game on Jenner's line, which has star Johnny Gaudreau at left wing. Texier joined Danforth and Gaudreau for much of the third while double shifting in his usual role as Kuraly's left wing.
It's still nothing like last season, when a spate of injuries beset the Blue Jackets nearly from start-to-finish, but the medical report is starting to fill up again.
Prior to Jenner's injury, the Blue Jackets were missing defenseman Damon Severson (oblique), defenseman Adam Boqvist (shoulder strain), center Cole Sillinger (upper body), forward Jack Roslovic (fractured foot), forward Patrik Laine (illness), defenseman Erik Gudbranson (illness) and goalie Elvis Merzlikins (illness).
Now the Jackets' captain might miss significant time depending on the severity of his injury. It's a new test of the Blue Jackets' depth, but early returns are good.
Along with Greaves backing up Spencer Martin in net, Emil Bemstrom has contributed positively up front the past two games – during his latest recall from AHL Cleveland – and defensemen Nick Blankenburg and Andrew Peeke have joined the blue line to provide a solid presence on the back end.
The underlying numbers for the Blue Jackets' Russian-powered second line weren't great against St. Louis, but Chinakhov, rookie Dmitri Voronkov and Marchenko generated three goals as a line when including power plays.
Marchenko opened the scoring 1:42 into the game with his ninth goal of the season and second in the past three games. Chinakhov scored twice to give the Jackets a 4-1 lead in the third and finished with a three-point game by assisting on Marchenko's goal. Voronkov, who's rapidly taking to center, had two assists on the goals by Marchenko and Chinakhov.
Concerns that Voronkov's homesickness and Chinakhov's unhappiness with his usage might drive both away have eased since they've joined Marchenko to form a line combination. Call it the 'Synergy' line.
"I think we just keep progressing together," Marchenko said. "We talk together, we're living together in one building, and every hour we're just together and we try to talk on the ice about small details. We have a good 'synergy,' because we talk in Russian on the ice. ... It's working now, but it's only the start. Just stay the same way. Stay with the hard work and try to go 'forecheck, back check … and paycheck.'"
Marchenko was fishing for the laughter he received after using that old hockey adage, but it fits them perfectly. They're forechecking opponents effectively, remembering to back check in their own zone and earning their paychecks by lighting the goal lamp.
"Voronkov's line is so reliable defensively and they have the skills," Vincent said. "They just see each other on the ice. Pretty impressive, but they study the games together, they watch films together, they talk on the bench consistently. They're students of the game, and there's this passion to play the right way. And the skill level of those three … they could be a good line for us for a long time."
Greaves is one of the best stories in the Blue Jackets' organization, which makes it easy to feel good for him each time he succeeds.
He's listed at 6-0, 184 pounds, which is undersized by modern goaltending measures. He wasn't drafted and signed with the Blue Jackets as a free agent out of the junior ranks in the Ontario Hockey League. Every level that Greaves has climbed, his relentless drive to prove himself through hard work is credited.
Also, it's impossible to stay in a bad mood around the guy.
"He deserves to stay here for now, and he's such a good kid," Vincent said. "He's a hard-working young man, but he's such a good person. He's that kind of guy. If you're having an average day and you're just around Jet, you feel better all of a sudden. So, everybody's cheering for him. Everybody's happy for him."
Greaves is with the Blue Jackets on emergency loan until Merzlikins is taken off injured reserve, but he's now shown in two starts that he's not overmatched in the NHL. During his debut last season, he set a franchise rookie record for the Jackets with 47 saves on 50 shots in a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs . Friday against the Blues, he stopped 41 of 43 shots to pick up his first NHL win – flashing a cat quick glove hand in the process.
As usual, Greaves was humble afterward.
"There's just so many steps, and all of this is just a dream come true," he said. "For me, it's just enjoying every day, learning from it and working hard … but also enjoying little things along the way and this is definitely one I'll remember for a long time."
It was quite a back-to-back set of games for Fantilli, who netted three goals and added four points to his season tally to help the Jackets get a split.
He now has eight goals, eight assists and 16 points in 28 games in his rookie season, trailing only Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard in the NHL's rookie scoring race. After notching his first three-point game in the Jackets' loss Thursday to the Islanders , the third overall pick of last summer's NHL draft put the Blue Jackets up 2-1 over the Blues late in the first with his eighth goal.
He's got room to grow defensively and at the faceoff dots, but those areas are challenging for almost every rookie center who enters the league. It's what Fantilli's beginning to add offensively that's exciting to watch each time he goes into a game.
Against the Islanders, Fantilli's between-the-legs pass to equally skilled forward Kent Johnson made national highlight reels after it led to his goal seconds later. Against the Blues, he brought Blue Jackets fans to their feet with another sniped wrist shot from a prime scoring area to take the lead.
Both goals were assisted by Kent Johnson and Bemstrom, two high-skill players who've paired nicely with Fantilli the past two games as a dangerous third line.
"To a certain extent, success comes with experience and being in those situations more and more is getting me more confident and comfortable in those situations," Fantilli said. "Hopefully I can build more trust to be out in those situations at the end (of games). That's the type of player I want to be is to be."
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Greaves nets first NHL win, leads Blue Jackets past Blues: 5 takeaways
