Blue Jackets Power Past Bruins Behind Three Power-Play Goals – The Hockey Writers Columbus Blue Jackets Latest News, Analysis & More

The Columbus Blue Jackets came off their holiday break hoping to start a winning streak. Thanks to a some exemplary work on special teams, they got two important points in the standings.

Zach Werenski recorded four assists while both Sean Monahan and Dmitri Voronkov netted two goals apiece to help the Blue Jackets to a dominating 6-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Friday night. The story of this game was the performance of the power play. They scored three power-play goals in a game for the first time since 2021.

Game Recap

The game started off a bit slow with the Bruins and Blue Jackets shaking off some rust. Then an offensive zone penalty by Morgan Geekie set the Blue Jackets in motion for how the night was going to go.

Sean Monahan scored his 12th goal of the season to open the scoring. From his usual bumper position, Monahan poked at a rebound that bounced in the air and landed behind Joonas Korpisalo.

As well as the Blue Jackets played in the first, a turnover and a defensive breakdown helped the Bruins to tie the game. David Pastrnak found Pavel Zacha for an easy finish to make it 1-1.

Before the Blue Jackets’ power play really got cooking, Adam Fantilli scored what turned out to be a big goal in the game. Voronkov found the seam and hit Fantilli with a breakaway pass. He made no mistake to give the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead.

Just 1:13 later, Monahan scored his second of the game and 13th goal of the season to make it 3-1 Blue Jackets. Then the Voronkov power-play show kicked into high gear.

Voronkov scored both his goals on the power play in different fashions. His first one was an in-close backhander that Korpisalo had no chance on. The second one was him in front causing havoc and creating space. The puck found his stick and he finished it while winning his battle in front of the net. That made the score 5-1 after two.

Kirill Marchenko and Charlie Coyle exchanged third period goals to make the final score 6-2. Elvis Merzlikins made 24 saves to earn the win. Korpisalo stopped 27 in defeat. Werenski assisted on all three power play goals.

The Blue Jackets and Bruins get together again Saturday night at TD Garden in Boston to complete the home-and-home series. With the win, the Blue Jackets sit just two points out of a playoff spot with a record of 15-15-6.