Obviously, the Boston Bruins were going to be dialed in on Saturday when they hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets in TD Garden, just 24 hours after the Blue Jackets delivered a welcome-back-from-the-break 6-2 beatdown in Nationwide Arena. The Blue Jackets knew it was coming.
They also had to understand that back-up goaltender Daniil Tarasov, rust and all, was back in the net after a 3 1/2-week break to get his game in order. With that as the backdrop, it was all the more imperative the Jackets play the type of hard, smart road game that has been such a challenge for them this season.
Instead, the road woes — and Tarasov’s personal woes — continued.
The Bruins scored on their first chance against a shaky Tarasov, then took advantage of some eye-popping turnovers by the Blue Jackets to cruise to a 4-0 win before 17,850. It marked the second time this season Columbus has been shut out and dropped them to 0-6 in the second half of back-to-backs.
“We did this to ourselves,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason told reporters in Boston. “We played a lot of good hockey here tonight, but when you’re out on the road and you’re not having success … you really need to simplify your game. Not limit the turnover; (but) not turn it over.”
Evason has stressed that the Blue Jackets’ path to turning around their road results — they’re now 4-12-3 away from Nationwide Arena — is to play a hard, smart style. When the puck is on your stick, especially in the defensive zone, let your decision-making be guided by the Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm.
They played hard on Saturday. They did not play smart.
The Bruins scored on their first scoring chance of the game. Tarasov was all elbows and knees on a wrist shot by Boston’s Brandon Carlo only 2:29 into the game, allowing the puck to skid behind him in the crease before Justin Brazeau swept it home.
Tarasov, who stopped 24 of 28 shots, seemed to settle in a bit after that, but his teammates did him no favors.
Geek Squad’s snipin’ pic.twitter.com/qfCWZ6UXDN
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) December 29, 2024
“(On Friday), we were taking care of pucks,” Blue Jackets defenseman Dante Fabbro said. “Today we kind of shot ourselves in the foot. You look back at some of the goals, even the one I coughed up at the blue line, and they end up going down and scoring.
“Things like that can’t be in the game. There’s time and space to try and make plays, but in those danger areas, that’s where it hurts teams.”
At 6:39 of the second, with the Jackets trailing 1-0, Damon Severson tried to make a backhand pass from off the wall in the defensive zone to Adam Fantilli to his left. But there’s a reason most defensemen don’t take the chance of sailing a backhand pass off the wall under duress.
Severson’s pass missed Fantilli and instead landed perfectly in stride to Boston’s Morgan Geekie, who had a clean look at Severson roaring through the slot. It was 2-0, and Severson was stapled to the bench by Evason for the rest of the second period.
Fabbro’s faux pas came only two minutes later when he fired a bullet pass to Zach Werenski from fairly close range, the puck kicking off of Werenski’s skates and shooting toward the Blue Jackets’ end of the ice. Worse, it was chipped ahead by Geekie to David Pastrnak, one of the NHL’s top finishes.
Pastrnak made it 3-1 at 8:18 of the second.
“We’re on the road and we’re talking about doing the right things, playing the right way,” Evason said. “We gave up the first one (by Tarasov). Then we turned two pucks completely over and just give them two goals. One on a breakaway and one on a pass into the slot. It’s crazy, right?”
🍝 🆙 🍪 pic.twitter.com/cQD7KRGM5L
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) December 29, 2024
The Blue Jackets were granted a prime opportunity to get back into the game just after Pastrnak’s goal when Sean Kuraly was bloodied by a high stick, giving Columbus a four-minute power play.
But, a night after going 3-for-3 with the man advantage, the Jackets could muster only one shot. And it was part of an offensive fizzling the rest of the way. In the final 30:01, the Blue Jackets mustered only six shots on goal.
The Bruins capped the scoring at 6:06 of the third when both defensemen on the second pair — rookie Denton Mateychuk and veteran Ivan Provorov — overskated a puck high in the offensive zone, leaving it sitting still on the blue line.
Boston’s Cole Koepke scored off the rush to cap the scoring.
One further detail you may have expected from a proud, veteran club like the Bruins after they were “embarrassed” — their words — a night earlier in Columbus: some old-school physicality.
Blue Jackets’ forward Mathieu Olivier and Boston’s Mark Kastelic fought on the ensuing faceoff after the 1-0 goal. Later in the first period, Boston’s Brad Marchand took exception to a high shoulder from Columbus’ Kirill Marchenko and chased him all over the ice before the two were separated.
Then, in the third, Olivier rattled Boston’s Charlie McAvoy with a hit along the wall, and was challenged to a fight by defenseman Nikita Zadorov.
(Photo: Bob DeChiara / Imagn Images)
