Secondary scoring helps in second straight win
Blue Jackets 4, Coyotes 2
GLENDALE, Ariz. — They have tried sparking more offense from places other than the top line, but the Blue Jackets have struggled to do it consistently.
If the first two games of the current road trip are any indication, though, they are on the right track. After getting three of six goals from outside the top line Tuesday to beat the Colorado Avalanche, the Blue Jackets got another load of secondary scoring Thursday in a 4-2 win at the Arizona Coyotes.
Josh Anderson and Boone Jenner had a goal and assist each, while Lukas Sedlak scored one for the fourth line
and defenseman David Savard scored his fourth goal of the season.
“It’s so important now,” said captain Nick Foligno, who plays left wing on Anderson’s line. “Teams tighten up, everyone tightens up defensively this time of year, so it’s even more important when your top lines get checked more — and a little more focused on — that your other guys can come up big for you.”
The “other guys” came through again in Arizona.
Sedlak and Savard scored in the first period to give Columbus a 2-0 lead, and Anderson reclaimed the lead, 3-2, with a power-play goal in the second — after Arizona tied it on goals by Jordan Oesterle and Conor Garland.
Standing in front of goalie Darcy Kuemper, Anderson earned his 18th goal — and second in as many games — after the puck clipped his leg and went into the net off Seth Jones’ knuckling shot from the point.
Jenner made it 4-2 in the third, whacking a loose puck past Kuemper from the left face-off circle for his 10th goal of the season.
It was similar to how Columbus played against the Avalanche, right down to Oliver Bjorkstrand nearly scoring an identical wraparound goal to the one he scored 53 seconds into that game.
That goal was Bjorkstrand’s 10th, which combined with Jenner’s against the Coyotes gives the Blue Jackets eight players with double-figures in goals — one of 14 teams with at least seven double-digit goal-scorers, and one of five with eight.
Only two of those teams, the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers, are currently outside a playoff spot — with the Flyers climbing up the Metropolitan Division after a recent eightgame winning streak.
The Blue Jackets could add another doubledigit goal-scorer soon, as Zach Werenski has nine.
Numbers only tell part of the story, though. It’s nice to have a wealth of goal-scorers, but coach John Tortorella also wants to spread the ice time more evenly. He has leaned heavily on the top line of Artemi Panarin, PierreLuc Dubois and Cam Atkinson, and he knows that recipe doesn’t work in the long-term.
“I want to be able to divvy the minutes a little bit better than I have, and that is dictated off of play away from the puck also,” Tortorella said. “The last thing I want to do is turn scorers into checkers, but I just want them to show me they’re willing to be on the other side of the puck.”