Three Blue Jackets Score Their Firsts of the Campaign in a 4-2 Win

Kirill Marchenko, Johnny Gaudreau, and Erik Gudbranson each picked up their first goal of the year in a gutty performance from the Jackets.

Photo courtesy Kevin Lam (CBUS Sports)

COLUMBUS, OHIO--- Well, I like writing the post-win articles a heck of a lot better than the post-loss ones. The Jackets picked up a 4-2 win on Thursday night against a very familiar foe in the Tampa Bay Lightning. The win puts the Jackets at 4-4-2, miles better than their 3-7-0 record at this point last year.

THE REBOUND

The Blue Jackets were coming back from a demoralizing 5-3 loss on Monday and an even more demoralizing skate the next day. The Jackets, however, responded well against the extremely talented Bolts, only giving up two goals off of 29 shots (thank you, Elvis).

WELCOME BACK, KIRILL!

Kirill Marchenko scored his first goal since April 2nd, 2023, and it was a beauty. With Cole Sillinger and Dmitry Voronkov picking up assists, Marchenko fired the puck past Matt Tompkins six minutes into the game.

The 23-year-old winger is coming off of a pair of healthy scratch games in his sophomore season. Last year in his rookie season, Marchenko put himself in the Calder race with 21 goals.

BOONE JENNER ON THE BOARD

Captain Boone Jenner got his fifth of the season, tipping a Zach Werenski shot to the bottom right of the net after Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead.

Jenner had two points on the night, moving him up to third all-time on the Blue Jackets point list with 336. Boone downplayed the goal after the game, opting to bring up the resilient response by the Jackets after going down 2-1.

UNLIKELY HERO

Who else but 44? Erik Gudbranson, the defenseman who notched one goal in 70 games last year, ended up being the game-winning goal scorer, with a big clap bomb that made its way through traffic and into the net.

Even if the former third overall pick in 2010 isn't the most productive of players point-wise, he still is a tremendous contributor defensively. "He’s doing the right things, a lot of the good things, and getting us (moving) in the right direction. We’re very fortunate to have him," said coach Pascal Vincent. "For us at this point, he's been one of our best players."

JOHNNY-ON-THE-(BOARD)

Even if the goal was an empty netter to seal the game for the Jackets, Johnny Gaudreau was able to score his first goal of the season in the 10th game.

OTHER NEWS/WHAT'S NEXT?

Kent Johnson was sent down to Cleveland on Friday after a noticeably bad game against Tampa. Yegor Chinakhov was called up and is expected to make his debut as soon as Saturday in Washington.

Speaking of Washington, the Jackets travel to the nation's capital Saturday night to face off against Ovechkin and the struggling Caps at 7 p.m.

Ian Phillips for Yamo Media