When things are going well, they’re going well — and that was certainly the case for the Blue Jackets right from the get-go tonight.
They managed to take over the game early, winning the battles and races and making sure the Maple Leafs spent most of their time defending. Columbus took a 3-0 lead in the first period, added on in the second and cruised to a 5-0 win over Toronto Wednesday night at Nationwide Arena, extending its points streak to 11 games (10-0-1), one game from tying a franchise record.
Ryan Murray scored in his first game back from a lower body injury, the Jackets’ top players had a big night and they chased Maple Leafs starting goaltender James Reimer from the game with four goals in 14 shots just 3:30 into the second period. It was a night of many good things for the Blue Jackets, who were coming off a disappointing overtime loss the New York Rangers two nights ago.
Where did the offensive explosion come from? Well, in short, everyone. The Blue Jackets got a goal from each line in the game and it started with the red-hot trio of Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky and Nick Foligno, who were terrific Monday night in New York.
Following another long shift in the Toronto zone, Dubinsky found himself with the puck in front of the net and dropped a pass to Anisimov in the high slot. Anisimov’s shot beat Reimer just underneath the crossbar for a 1-0 Jackets lead at 13:51, and the lead grew larger a few shifts later.
The No. 1 line cashed in at 15:56 when Boone Jenner scored his eighth goal of the season off a nifty pass from Ryan Johansen behind the net. And just before public address announcer Greg Murray could tell the crowd that there was one minute remaining in the first period, Scott Hartnell received a great pass across the zone from Marko Dano and sniped his 27th goal of the season past Reimer.
“We wanted to get off to a good start in our building,” Jenner said. “We wanted to get on them early and I think we did that in the first. We needed to come out (strong) in the second, and I thought we got a good quick goal there and just continued it on, and Bob did a good job shutting the door. All four lines have been going lately, and it’s good to see.”
Reimer’s night was done after allowing four goals on 18 shots, the final one coming from Murray on a seeing-eye wrist shot from the left point on the power play.
Jeremy Morin supplied the final goal of the night at 16:34 of the second period, wheeling out from behind the net and carrying the puck all the way to the center point before firing a 60-footer through traffic that eluded Jonathan Bernier.
Sergei Bobrovsky doesn’t need much run support these days, but five was four more than he needed to pick up the win tonight. Bobrovsky made 35 saves to record his second shutout of the season and first since Dec. 16 at Detroit (a 1-0 shootout win) — a span of 28 starts.
“It’s a good feeling,” said coach Todd Richards. “Anytime you win in this league and win 5-0, obviously you did a lot of good things. There’s a lot of things to feel good about.”
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