The Aftermath Game #65: Blue Jackets v.s Devils

<![CDATA[The Columbus Blue Jackets moved one win closer to the playoffs, taking down the New Jersey Devils 2-0 tonight at Nationwide Arena. The Jackets were led by goaltender Sergei Bobrovksy, who turned in his third straight shuout, making 33 saves. The game remained scoreless through much of the game, until Sam Gagner set up Oliver Bjorkstrand for a one-timer at 9:39 of the 3rd period. The Jackets held onto that lead for the remainder of the game, with Cam Atkinson adding an empty-netter for insurance. It wasn't just any old empty net goal though, as this marked Cam's 30th of the season. He's looked cursed lately, so getting that 30 will hopefully free him up to start piling pucks in the back of the net again. Despite the victory, this was not the strongest game from the Jackets. They finished the game being outshot 33-25, with only 48.5% of the shot attempts. Only six Jackets skaters finished above water in Corsi For %, and Zach Werenski, Brandon Saad, and Nick Foligno were the only Jackets with more than two shots on goal.

Good: Sergei Bobrovsky

For the second consecutive game, Sergei Bobrovsky held the New Jersey Devils without a goal. The game Bob played before that? He shut out the Minnesota Wild. Fun fact: Bob hasn’t allowed a goal yet in March. Also a fun fact: Bob hasn’t allowed a regulation goal since February 26th. He’s going to go at least 11 days without allowing a goal in regulation. That is pretty good. Bobrovsky shook off an early puck to the noggin in doing, staying in the net and being awesome.

Probably his best stops of the night were the flurry of three saves he made near the end of the 1st period. Had any of these snuck by, we might have seen a much different game moving forward.

[protected-iframe id=”5b5191a61479d6b38df4ee1627c4e53d-114320562-108054817″ info=”https://www.nhl.com/video/embed/bobrovskys-series-of-big-stops/t-283410946/c-50123303?autostart=false” width=”540″ height=”360″]

Bad: 6:42

That is how many minutes of third period hockey we watched without a shot on goal by either team. It’s not like it was great hockey, with blocked shots, and posts, and near misses. There were a whopping three shot attempts for each team during that stretch. Gross. The Jackets didn’t get their first “shot” of the period until the 11 minute mark. It was a rocket.

The Aftermath Game #65: Blue Jackets v.s Devils

Decent: TJ Tynan

He didn’t do a whole lot tonight, but he looked pretty solid. He’s fast, was pretty good on the puck, managed to push play up the ice nicely a few times. Nothing earth shattering, but he fit in with the Jackets bottom six.

Tweet of the Night

https://twitter.com/BuckeyeStHockey/status/839303238147010561]]>

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