Before the puck dropped at MTS Centre tonight, Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said he had concerns about how his team would perform.
Granted, it took them a little while to get going, but once the visitors got their footing it was a downhill sled to the finish line.
After shaking off an early Winnipeg goal, the Blue Jackets scored the next four and took a commanding lead, holding on down the stretch to win 5-3, their 14th consecutive victory and moving them to 25-5-4 on the season.
You would have been smart to categorize this game as a challenge for the Blue Jackets; the Jets knew what they had coming into their building tonight, and in addition, they’d been playing much better hockey in their own right. They really wanted to be the team that ended the Blue Jackets’ winning streak, but the Blue Jackets wanted no part of it.
Brandon Saad scored a big goal midway through the first period to pull Columbus into a 1-1 tie, a goal that mitigated an early push by Winnipeg that put the Blue Jackets back on their heels. Special teams again played a part, as the Blue Jackets scored twice on the power play to widen their lead in the second and third period.
They will head into St. Paul on Saturday night ready for a tangle with the NHL’s other hottest team, the Minnesota Wild, who won their 12th straight game on the same night. That game on Saturday marks the first time in NHL history that two teams with active win streaks of seven games or more will meet on the same sheet of ice.
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