The Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Chicago Blackhawks by a 4-2 score on Friday night in the only game of the NHL. Charlie Coyle recorded his second-career hat trick and assisted on Mathieu Olivier’s goal. Elvis Merzlikins made 22 saves to help the Blue Jackets improve to 7-1 under head coach Rick Bowness.
The game was mostly controlled by the Blue Jackets. Connor Bedard’s line kept the Blackhawks in the game just enough to keep it interesting. But when the game was winding down, the Blue Jackets shut it down and got the win.
Here are our three takeaways from the game.
Coyle Gaining Steam For the Selke
Coyle usually doesn’t like the spotlight. But given the way he’s been playing, he’s been the central focus of the Blue Jackets at all ends of the ice.
Coyle scored his first goal on the power play to make it seven out of eight games that the Blue Jackets have scored first since Bowness took over. He then was in position to take advantage of an Andre Burakovsky turnover to make it 2-1.
Perhaps one of the biggest plays of the night was his defensive play on the Blackhawks on a shorthanded rush attempt. He took the puck away and ensured the Blue Jackets maintained their lead.
It’s for this reason Coyle should start getting a lot more Selke Trophy attention as the league’s best defensive forward. His line got the assignment on Bedard later in the game and didn’t anything to them.
For Coyle, it’s a team win while still doing the right things even though the Blackhawks made a push.
“How do you stay going the right way and staying consistent and believing in what we do and how we should do it. That’s all stuff we got to keep growing in our game and what we do. And it’s going to pay off. I think we see it more and more paying off right now and we’re getting wins because of it.”
Zach Werenski has also spoken at length about Coyle’s impact. Even he has run out of things to say about what’s happening of late.
“Yeah, I’m sick of talking about that guy. It’s been 1,000th game, the ceremonies, now tonight. Honestly though, he’s been incredible and I really can’t say anything else. I feel like I’ve said it all. He’s one of the best teammates I ever played with and obviously what he does on the ice. He plays the right way. I think he leads by example. It’s nice to obviously see him get four points tonight and three goals. But it’s everything else away from the puck that he does that’s so important to our group.”
Coyle gets the tough matchups and generally wins them. Given all the rumors around him should the Blue Jackets become a seller, it seems they should do everything possible to keep him given his overall impact.
Third Period
The Blue Jackets held a slim 3-2 lead going to the third period. They had to kill a penalty late in the period. But when it mattered most, they shut things down.
The Blue Jackets held the Blackhawks to just 24 shots on the night, eight in each period. Most of those came late in the game pushing for a tying goal. Shots were just 3-2 Blackhawks with just over six minutes left.
“We didn’t give up much in the third, so that’s a good thing,” head coach Rick Bowness said. “But we still want to generate a little bit more.”
“I feel like that one line for them (Bedard’s line) created a lot of offense tonight,” Werenski said. “I feel like in the third we did a good job of limiting their chances.”
The misery of third periods have turned in recent games, an encouraging sign as the Blue Jackets continue fighting for position.
Penalty Killing
Bowness has stressed the need for the Blue Jackets to be better at their penalty killing. They got two important kills, one in the second and one in the third.
Bowness says things are improving, but they need to watch the timing of when they take their penalties too.
“The penalty kill’s better,” Bowness said. “I don’t like taking a penalty in the third period. We took a couple the other night and I don’t like seeing those penalties in the third period. So, that’s something we’re going to keep addressing. And then you give the penalty killer credit. They came up big when they had to come up big.”
Merzlikins was credited by Bowness postgame as well for helping with the successful kills. Coach reiterated how much he loves the way Merzlikins is playing in net citing his compete and composure.
Suddenly, the Blue Jackets have two viable options in net Bowness can choose from.
Up next for the Blue Jackets, they head to St. Louis to face the Blues at 7:00 P.M. eastern.
