The Jackets did exactly what they needed to do to respond to the disheartening loss against the Hurricanes in Columbus on Tuesday: they came out early and defined the tempo by outshooting their hosts 11 to 4 in the first frame. The shots were even in the 2nd period and we saw Hartnell score two very CBJ-like goals by planting himself in front of the net and relying on his peers to put the puck on his stick. Sadly, the momentum ran out and the ice and ultimately tilted against Columbus with an 18-8 drubbing in the 3rd that resulted in Victor Rask getting one past McElhinney after what seemed like an eternity of Hurricanes possessing the puck in the CBJ zone to shore up 1 point for each team and send it to OT. A suspect (at best) holding call on Savard created a lot of open ice and Elias Lindholm was able to bury the GWG on a 4-on-3 power play. On to the three stars:
3rd Star: Cam Ward
Ward stood tall and withstood the early CBJ onslaught that he had to assume would come early in the game. Both of the regulation goals scored against him were the result of his defense leaving Scott Hartnell in the slot, unmolested. His 2GA and 0.935 save percentage are the kind of performance you love to get from your number one guy.
2nd Star: Jeff Skinner
Eh. Skinner capitalized on a turnover in front of McElhinney and lifted a nice back-hander to open the scoring. Good for him I guess.
1st Star: Elias Lindholm
Lindholm got the PP GWG on a 4-on-3. I know for a lot of beat writers, GWG = automatically #1 star of the game but if you’ve read this far you’ve already noticed that all three stars are members of the Hurricanes. I’d say it takes a special kind of homer-ism to omit a player with 2 goals on the night and a goal-saving block that sent the game to OT and earned the Jackets a point for what would have otherwise been a regulation loss. Hartnell had a great game tonight and is without a question the top performer on either squad. I’d also give a nod or at least an honorable mention to David Savard tonight. Savard logged 26:28 of solid time against top skaters on the other and broke up key plays.
Studs: Scott Hartnell + Boone Jenner
I don’t think that Jenner is firing on all cylinders yet but tonight he offered a glimpse of the threat that he and Hartnell can pose when on the same line and man is it exciting. As I mentioned above, Hartnell buried two very Blue Jacketsy goals and was a threat on the power play.
Dud: Being in the penalty box
Whether warranted or not, the time spent in the penalty box ultimately led to the CBJ demise tonight in the 3rd and OT. Whatever they need to do to stay out the box, be that commit or get called for fewer penalties, something has to change.
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