Blue Jackets Offensive Struggles Continue in Loss to Ducks – Hockey Writers – Columbus Blue Jackets

The Columbus Blue Jackets saw Sunday night in Anaheim as a big game. If they win, they will get back to .500 hockey for the season. However, the Ducks had other ideas.

John Gibson made his season debut and made 39 saves to lead the Ducks to a 4-2 win over the Blue Jackets. 12 different players hit the scoresheet for the Ducks in a balanced attack. For the Blue Jackets, their struggle continued even though they controlled the game for a long time.

Recap of the game

The ducks started quickly. Just three minutes into the game, Cutter Gauthier was able to find Brett Leason for the lead. He converted a simple tap-in to make it 1-0.

Good for the Blue Jackets, they got stronger as the first half went on. They were finally able to solve Gibson on the power play late in the period. Yegor Chinakhov scored his fourth of the season on a layup by Zach Werenski. Werenski played in his 500th NHL game on Sunday.

Although the Blue Jackets gained momentum in the second half, it was the Ducks who took the lead 2-1 by Jackson LaCombe. Ivan Provorov turned the puck over in the defense which led to LaCombe finally converting the rebound.

The Blue Jackets defeated the Ducks in all three seasons shooting a total of 41 on Gibson. It was 11-7 in the second and 17-13 in the third. Again it was the Ducks who scored the first goal in the third.

Leo Carlsson was able to find the puck in a maze of bodies and beat goaltender Daniil Tarasov from the slot to make it 3-1. Kirill Marchenko scored his sixth of the season as the Blue Jackets pushed to 3-2 at halftime. For Marchenko, that marked a high-scoring game with 15 points in his first 14 games this season.

That was as close as the Blue Jackets would get. Isac Lundestrom was able to hit an empty netter to make the final score 4-2. Three games in California saw the Blue Jackets shoot 117 goals on four-for-five. That's a .957 save percentage. Tarasov stopped 26 of 29 on Sunday night. With the loss, the Blue Jackets have lost five in a row going 0-4-1 in that stretch.

The Blue Jackets now rest on Monday before completing a road trip in Seattle. Meanwhile, the Ducks get a few days off at home before hosting the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.