Columbus Blue Jackets keep it close, fall to Seattle Kraken 4-2 on Alex Wennberg goal
Close wasn’t good enough for the Blue Jackets on Friday night at Nationwide Arena.
Trailing by a goal with goaltender Elvis Merzlikins pulled for a 6-on-5 advantage, they just couldn’t get an equalizer to force overtime in a 4-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken.
Johnny Gaudreau came within inches of tying it with 1:44 left, skipping the puck off the crossbar and right post with a wrist shot, and then had a backhand stopped by sprawling Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer three seconds later. Almost a minute later, Seattle’s Brandon Tanev stole the puck at his own blue line and skated it down for an empty-net breakaway goal to seal it.
“That’d be nice if that’d go in, but it’s a 60-minute game and often, hockey games boil down to that point where in a second the game could swing one way or another,” Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson said of Gaudreau’s poor luck. “We’re doing a lot of better things. Elvis made some really big saves for us tonight. … we had some little breakdowns that ended up in our net and we’re still trying to clean those up.”
Patrik Laine and Adam Boqvist scored for the Blue Jackets (20-36-6). Merzlikins made 31 saves on 34 shots to keep Columbusclose in a game that favored the Kraken 35-23 in shots. Grubauer made 21 saves and former Blue Jackets center Alex Wennberg scored the winner for Seattle to cap a power play 7:12 into the third.
Jared McCann and Jordan Eberle scored goals in the second for the Kraken, who took over the game in that period with a 11-5 edge in shots.
Laine opened the scoring at 10:18 of the second with his 18th goal, which he scored from the left circle to give the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead and their first power-play goal in four man-advantage opportunities to that point.
Seattle responded with goals 48 seconds apart by McCann on a power play and Eberle on the next shift. McCann beat Merzlikins into the top left corner with a wrist shot for his 30th goal, tying it 1-1, and Eberle made it 2-1 with his 14th goal, which he scored from the slot off McCann’s rebound.
Outside of giving Columbus two power-plays in each of the first two periods, Seattle dictated play and outshot the Blue Jackets 23-15 starting the third. It was a one-goal difference thanks to Merlikins, who put together another solid outing to continue a string of good play since the All-Star break in mid-February.
“I thought where we lacked was our compete at the puck,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “We lost too many of the 50/50s for me, especially in the second and third, when they started feeding the slot a little more on us ... and that hurt us.”
Boqvist knotted it 2-2 at 4:53 of the third with his second goal of the season and second point of the game. Scooping a loose puck in the slot, he wheeled and fired a laser over Grubauer’s glove to bring the crowd back into it.
The boost was short-lived thanks to a tripping penalty on Boone Jenner at the end of a scramble that nearly led to the Blue Jackets scoring. Instead, Wennberg put Seattle up 3-2 nine seconds into the ensuing power play and it wound up as his second winner in as many games this season against his former team.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets fall to Seattle Kraken on Wennberg's goal