Officially, the Blue Jackets finished this Western Canada road trip with a 2-1-0 record.
Another way to think of it: they were one poor period away from potentially sweeping the trip for the second year in a row.
Sunday night’s game at Scotiabank Saddledome was in some ways similar to their 2-1 shootout win over Vancouver the night before: there wasn’t much happening offensively, both teams were limiting scoring chances, and there was excellent goaltending from the visiting team.
For the second straight night, it was rookie Joonas Korpisalo getting it done in net, making 30 saves to hold off a third-period charge from Calgary and lead the Blue Jackets to another 2-1 victory.
William Karlsson scored twice – the third two-goal game of his career and his second two-goal game this season – to handle the offensive load for Columbus, which again struggled to generate offense but managed to cash in on chances when they needed to.
The biggest was Karlsson’s winner in the third period, breaking a 1-1 tie in a game that never really developed, though John Tortorella had a different word for it.
“We talked about it after the second period, just not opening up,” Tortorella said. “It was an ugly game, just ugly. We (told the players) just don’t open up and give them anything for free. We did a really good job of keeping everything to the outside.
“We would’ve liked to see a little more forechecking. There weren’t major mistakes or giving up glorious chances like what happened in Vancouver those last five or six minutes.”
When there were mistakes, Korpisalo was there to shut the door.
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