Kirill Marchenko had a goal and two assists while Adam Fantilli registered his first multi-goal game of the season to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets past the visiting Calgary Flames 5-2 on Friday.
In the teams’ first matchup since the deaths of former Blue Jackets and Flames star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew over the summer, Calgary goalie Dan Vladar wore a mask honoring Johnny Gaudreau. The teams will face off again on Tuesday in Calgary.
Zach Werenski (one goal, one assist) and Kent Johnson also scored and Elvis Merzlikins made 27 saves for the Blue Jackets, whose five-game point streak (4-0-1) is their longest since 2020. Dmitri Voronkov added a pair of assists.
Werenski’s game-winner in the second was his eighth tally of the season, tying him with Colorado’s Cale Makar for the most among NHL defensemen. Werenski’s seven-game point streak equals the longest of his career.
Blake Coleman and Nazem Kadri scored for the Flames, who are 0-2-1 since a four-game win streak. Dustin Wolf stopped 29 shots in Calgary’s net.
After Sean Kuraly’s early semi-breakaway clanked off the crossbar, the Blue Jackets continued pressuring and grabbed a 1-0 lead just as a power play came to an end. At 11:56, Fantilli fired a shot from the left circle that sailed in over Wolf’s shoulder.
Johnson doubled the Columbus lead at 16:42, shooting a wrister from the right circle that Cole Sllinger initiated at the start of a two-on-one rush.
Werenski added to the Blue Jackets’ advantage 4:43 into the second. AfterVoronkov picked off Wolf’s attempted feed up the boards, Werenski slotted home a short feed from Marchenko, who had circled the net, and neatly tucked it inside the post.
With 5:01 left in the second, Coleman brought the Flames within 3-1 by pouncing on a loose puck in front that had bounced off Rasmus Andersson off Kevin Bahl’s pass from Merzlikins’ left end of the goal line.
Out of the box after serving a roughing penalty on Merzlikins, Fantilli joined a two-on-one rush with Marchenko and buried a perfect pass into the right circle for a 4-1 lead less than five minutes into the third.
Kadri rushed from end-to-end and scored on a wrist shot from between the circles on the power play, cutting Calgary’s deficit to 4-2 with nine minutes left in regulation. Marchenko sealed the win on an empty-net goal with 1:40 remaining.
The Flames’ Justin Kirkland suffered a lower-body injury in the first period and did not return.
–Field Level Media