Before Saturday’s game, Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said he would know fairly quickly if his team was up to the task against the defending Eastern Conference champions.
And early on, the Blue Jackets were executing and doing the things that have made them successful. They forechecked relentlessly, played a clean game inside their own end and didn’t give the Boston Bruins much room to work with. But all it took was one glimmer of light in the third period to get the Bruins going – they needed an inch, got an inch, and ran with it the rest of the way to a 3-1 win.
Jack Johnson’s power play goal late in the first period gave Columbus a 1-0 lead on its third shot of the game, and they looked to have righted themselves after a rocky stretch midway through the frame. The Blue Jackets carried that lead into the first intermission and held it late into the second period, but an opportunistic moment for the Bruins knotted things up after 40 minutes.
The Blue Jackets were unable to capitalize on a power play chance late in the second period, and right out of the box, Chris Kelly made good on his own mistake. He burst through the neutral zone and blasted a slap shot through Sergei Bobrovsky, evening things up 1-1 at 16:18 of the second period. Boston, which found its game in the second period, had the better of play in the middle stanza and had something to feel good about entering the third.
Just 49 seconds into the third, Loui Eriksson notched the game-winning goal (his first as a Bruin) on a bad-angle shot that eluded Bobrovsky. The Blue Jackets, down a goal, were unable to sustain much pressure in the offensive zone and Tuukka Rask was outstanding in net for Boston. He made 26 saves – several of high quality – including a point-blank stop on Gaborik with about five minutes remaining.
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