The Blue Jackets’ primary focus was getting back to their game and putting Sunday’s loss behind them. Mission accomplished.
From the opening face-off Tuesday night against the San Jose Sharks, the Blue Jackets had their foot on the gas pedal and didn’t slow down. They got pucks in deep behind the Sharks defense, finished their checks and made San Jose play at their speed – and it was something the visitors simply could not handle.
At the end of the night, it was one of the Blue Jackets’ most complete performances in recent memory. They got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky, a 60-minute effort from their forwards and defensemen and didn’t yield many quality opportunities in the scoring areas. Columbus’ 4-0 win (for the time being) vaulted it into ninth place in a jam-packed Western Conference with 41 points in 40 games and sent a lively crowd of 17,771 home happy.
Matt Calvert got it started with his eighth goal of the season, chopping the puck past Antti Niemi at 8:39 of the first period after he and his line mates embarked on a hellacious shift in the Sharks zone. James Wisniewski uncorked a missile from the center point to make it 2-0 early in the second period, and less than two minutes later, Marian Gaborik hit Ryan Johansenwith a nifty feed and Johansen went top shelf for a 3-0 advantage.
Niemi’s night was through after Gaborik finished off a 2-on-1 with Artem Anisimov at 7:16 of the third period, giving way to Thomas Greiss to round out the night.
Bobrovsky was the No. 1 star of the game, recording his fourth shutout of the season – all coming in the past 15 games.
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