Patrik Laine and Mikael Granlund helped their team win with their goals.
Patrik Laine corrected his mistake in the opening set by scoring a goal. AOP / USA TODAY SPORTS
Columbus Blue Jackets player Patrik Laine the match against the Ottawa Senators did not start rosy. The Finnish striker gave a stray pass in the Senators’ half of the field and offered the opponent a chance to strike on the counterattack.
That’s what happened in the end when Brady Tkachuk found his teammate Claude Giroux. Moments later, Tkachuk stretched the goal net and it looked like the away team was going to run away already halfway through the opening set.
In the 15th minute of the game, Laine corrected his mistake. Columbus played a dominant game where others created space for Lainee to launch. Laine pulled the players back and narrowed the game to 1–2.
That was the start of Columbus’s strong letter. In a minute Dmitry Voronkov managed to tie the game. Columbus got two series points with a 4–2 win.
After the match, Laine, who completed his fifth hit of the season, told Bally Sports Columbus in the interviewthat the mistake that led to Ottawa’s opening goal was kismit.
– It was a bad puck loss on my part, but I told everyone that I would get us back on board. We found our rhythm in the second half of the opening set and managed to level the game.
At the Ottawa Senators goal stood Joonas Korpisalo, who played as Laine’s teammate in Columbus for three years. Getting the puck behind a familiar man brought a nice boost to success.
– I told “Korpi” that I am really going to paint against him today. I am a man of my word, Laine acknowledged.
1+2 for Granlund
Also Mikael Granlund succeeded in scoring. The 31-year-old forward played a big role when the jumbo team San Jose Shark took their first away win of the season by beating the New Jersey Devils 6-3.
Especially the co-op chain friend by Anthony Duclair with seemed to work. Granlund passed both of Duclair’s hits, the latter of which was the winning goal.
In the third set, Duclair paid back for the first-class serving and single-handedly built a scoring position, which Granlund went to finish. Devils goalie Akira Schmidt opened by placing the puck directly at Granlund’s disposal.
Granlund has now collected 2+8 in 17 games.
And it’s not good to forget Kaapo Kähkö. The Sharks goalkeeper made no less than 44 saves against the Devils’ high-quality attack. The man’s personal winning balance is now three wins and six losses.
A third win in their last four games meant that the Sharks, who have had a disastrous start to their season, moved level on points with the Chicago Blackhawks. Both now have 14 points. On the other hand, Chicago has a few less games played.