The Blue Jackets are now on a four game losing streak. The first three seemed to show uninspired hockey, but last night was different. After a significant line jumbling by Todd Richards, and the addition of rookie Josh Anderson, the Jackets showed tenacious, physical, offense-minded hockey. They outshot the Rangers, they out possessed the Rangers, but Lundvist out-saved the Jackets. And that’s the tale of the tape.
Let’s take a look at the three stars for the game as named by NHL.com:
3rd Star. Sergei Bobrovsky. Bob is Bob. For the first time in a while he faced fewer shots than his opponent, but he came up big with some huge saves including one that launched a stretch pass from Johansen to Scott Hartnell for the Jackets only goal of the night (and Bob’s first assist of the season). This was the was the team was built to work – excellent goaltending supported by a physical, driving team in front of it.
2nd Star. Chris Kreider. Game winning goal means star usually, and that may be the case here. It was a pretty one – but perhaps that was more due to a defensive lapse by Prout that had Tyutin scrambling over to try and cover – but otherwise Kreider didn’t stand out that much more to me than anyone. Unfortunately, stars usually sway in favor of the winning team and that makes this a legit choice.
1st Star. Henrik Lundqvist. Seriously. Of course the King was on point last night. The Jackets rounded up a healthy 36 shots against and could only get one through. Atkinson had a few point blank opportunities, even Anderson got a good shot in – but Henrik shut them all down. In a game such as this one, where everything the Jackets were doing was giving them the advantage, the goaltending makes the difference. It did here – in a big big way. Star earned.
Coming soon: art of the game from Rockman
Stud. Offense. Man I wish the Jackets could have been rewarded for their efforts last night. For the first time in a while they controlled the possession game – the Jackets had 63.53% Corsi for at even strength, had sustained pressure in the zone – something that hadn’t happened in some time for the team – and the first period in particular showed that physical gritty play that makes this team pesty to play against. It was a start…hopefully the boys can stay connected to that style of play.
Dud. Blaming officiating. For two games now the Jackets have been gifted calls by the officials. A no-goal call against MTL and a no-goal call against NYR. Arguably both were the right call – which is what you hope for every night. BUT, if everyone is willing to be honest with themselves, those calls show that there is no “agenda against Columbus” or conspiracy theory. The MTL call in particular was close close close and it went in the Jackets’ favor. To boot, last night, the Rangers had 6 penalties called on them to the Jackets 4. As Scott Hartnell said, “losing teams blame officiating…” (sic) and it’s really just an excuse. Do you really want a team that finds it “ok” to accept a game because the officiating was bad? That’s not a team that’s going to fight through adversity, play smart and stay within themselves. There is no question that there are bad calls in the league, and there is no question that the Jackets have been on the wrong end of those. But they’ve also been on the right side…remember the net-goal from the BOS game – where the official “just didn’t see” the puck hit the net? Love your team, show your passion, but challenge yourself to see each call without bias.
The Jackets are at Boston tonight – must win territory is pretty darn close. Let’s see what the boys can do.
Carry the Flag!
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