On Thursday at Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City, Michigan, the Blue Jackets kicked off the 2024 NHL Prospects Tournament with a commanding 7-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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Jordan Dumais recorded two goals, and notable multipoint performances came from Hunter McKown (1 goal, 1 assist), Adam Fantilli (2 assists), and Denton Mateychuk (2 assists). Additional goals for Columbus were contributed by Justin Pearson, James Malatesta, Stanislav Svozil, and Cameron Butler. Goalkeeper Pavel Cajan played a crucial role in the victory, making 20 saves.
Ryan Tverberg, Topi Niemala, and defenceman Max Ellis found the consolation goals in the game which saw a rink change in the middle.
Post the game, The Blue Jackets Traverse City head coach Trent Vogelhuber said, “I thought the pace was really fast early, partially because I haven’t watched live games for a long time, partially because it’s a small ice rink, and partially because everybody is really excited to go. Everybody is flying around out there. Systematically, it’s a little bit of a mess, but that’s to be expected. We got some good bounces, and I thought as the game went on, we got better and better and our group kind of took over.”
Following a day off on Friday, the Blue Jackets will resume their tournament action on Saturday afternoon when they face off against Detroit. This will be the second of their three scheduled games at the event.
