Columbus took a 1-0 lead at 7:08 of the first period. After the Blue Jackets forced a turnover, Luca Del Bel Belluz fed a pass to Johnson, who scored five-hole from the left faceoff circle. Kirill Marchenko made it 2-0 at 9:48 when he took a cross-ice backhand pass from Adam Fantilli and roofed a shot over Andersen’s glove.

Any question about the difficulty of playing back-to-back games — especially the dreaded second game after a long previous night of travel — causes the eyes of the Columbus Blue Jackets coach to sparkle and a smile to form while he waits to answer.