Blue Jackets Stun Blackhawks, Halt Losing Streak
The Columbus Blue Jackets, the worst team in the Eastern Conference, stunned the Chicago Blackhawks, the worst team in the Western Conference, with a 5-2 victory on Saturday night. The win snapped the Blue Jackets’ two-game losing streak and dropped Chicago to 0-4-2 in its last six games.
Alexandre Texier opened the scoring for Columbus just 33 seconds into the game, taking advantage of a giveaway by Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones. Boone Jenner doubled the lead with a deflection of Zach Werenski’s shot at 14:05 of the first period.
The Blackhawks finally got on the board with 2:28 left in the first on Philipp Kurashev’s goal, but the Blue Jackets responded with two more goals in the second period. Mathieu Olivier scored at 3:09, assisted by Werenski, and Cole Sillinger made it 4-1 midway through the period.
Johnny Gaudreau added an empty-netter for Columbus in the final minute of the game. Elvis Merzlikins made 26 saves for the Blue Jackets, while Arvid Soderblom stopped 26 shots for the Blackhawks.
“I don’t think there’s any pressure on us now,” said Merzlikins. “The last few games we’re playing against teams and not even looking at where they’re at in the standings, top or in the bottom.”
The Blackhawks have now lost six straight games and are 1-6-3 in their last 10 home games. They will start a three-game road trip on Monday in Colorado.
“It was a really sloppy game right from the start,” said Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson. “We played really slow. They kept coming at us. It’s a bad combination. We went down the wrong path.”
The Blue Jackets, meanwhile, will host Vegas on Monday.