Derek MacKenzie summed up Sunday’s game thusly: “It was an honest effort, and we got an honest result.”
The Blue Jackets had all hands on deck – no passengers this afternoon at the Canadian Tire Centre – and got back to playing their relentless, in-your-face brand of hockey in a 4-1 win over a Senators club that’s been playing some really good hockey. Ryan Johansen picked up a goal and an assist, Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves (losing his shutout in the final minutes), and the Blue Jackets were helped along by a season-high three power play goals Sunday afternoon.
They led 1-0 after the opening period, 3-0 after the second and MacKenzie supplied the 4-0 goal midway through the final period to salt it away for the Jackets, who recorded two very important points as they opened up a five-game road trip through Canada. And for a team that has struggled in recent years with afternoon games, the Blue Jackets were the team that started this game on time and got to work right away.
And two nights after Todd Richards publicly expressed frustration with the performance of his top players, the Blue Jackets got major contributions from that part of the lineup.
Johansen’s power play goal started it, then RJ Umberger scored a power play goal of his own in the second period. Fedor Tyutin ripped a slapper past Craig Anderson at the tail end of a 5-on-3 to increase the Jackets’ lead to 3-0 later in the middle frame, and they really clamped down from there. Richards said today might have been the Blue Jackets’ most solid game in front of their goaltender, and despite losing the shutout, he really liked how they limited the Senators’ chances and took away a lot of room to make plays – especially when Ottawa operated on the power play.
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