After a promising start against a downtrodden opponent the Blue Jackets ended up falling to the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 in the Air Canada Centre. Let us take a look at how our Canadian brethren layethed the smackdown on the Jackets.
Highlights:
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
The Good: Ryan Johansen
Do you like 6’4 200+lb center’s who can change the game in a moments notice? Then boy do the Blue Jackets have a player for you! Ryan Johansen, like he is many nights, was an absolute force. His two goals on the evening kept the Jacket’s alive but it ended up not being enough. His even strength CF% sat comfortably at 61%. With these numbers it begs the question to many, where exactly was the rest of the team?
The Bad: Defensemen’s Skates
Bob saw way too many open shots in the slot this game but the real problem with the defensemen was there skates? A tough luck team like Toronto recently will get a couple of bounces here and there but this past evening they got two, one off of Fedor Tyutin and one off of Cody Goldbeef. The even strength score adjusted corsi battle has this game at damn near even. A bounce can change the complexion of a game and did so Friday evening in Toronto.
The Ugly: Fourth Line Usage
I will probably be putting this every time I write the Aftermath (hint: I write it almost every time). The way that the fourth line is used has been abysmal. They started 0% of the game in the offensive zone. You will not find a worse way to deploy a line with Jared Boll on it. The thought process that Mark Letestu may bring up terrible wingers is a nice idea in theory, but has shown thus far that it is terrible in practice. Luckily possession winger Brian Gibbons will be back shortly and hopefully will bring some much needed depth to the Blue Jackets.
Tweet of the Game:
https://twitter.com/jmtprojections/status/553758706278858753
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