Picking up right where they left off before the Christmas break, the Blue Jackets faced off against a division opponent in the New Jersey Devils. The Devils are one of the many teams in the Metro bottleneck all vying for the coveted 3rd place automatic playoff bid. Like Blue Jackets fans learned at the end of last season it’s much better to be protecting a playoff spot then chasing one. Tonight’s game had a lot to like and a lot to think about how we’ll improve on. Without further ado, here’s my take on the NHL’s three stars of the evening.
Disclaimer: I’ll freely admit that I was pretty puzzled by these picks when our very own @CBJProspects made an excellent point. It’s highly likely that these picks were made before the shootout began.
3rd Star: Artem Anisimov
Great positioning, relentless follow-up and a backhand with more lift than Joan River’s face were the recipe to crack open the scoring. Great to see Arty start to build some momentum and contribute on the scoreboard more regularly. Would he be my 3rd star? Stay tuned.
2nd Star: Martin Brodeur
Brodeur showed why he’s a future hall of famer tonight. A good goaltender gives you a chance to win every game. A great goal tender steals a game for you from time to time. If you want to award the 1 points in the standings that the Devils earned tonight you can chalk that one up to number 30 in the black mask. As a Jackets fan I surely wanted to see Brodeur fall on his face tonight but you can’t help but get excited and appreciate when one player is willing and able to put their foot down and says “not on my watch”.
1st Star: Adam Henrique
I’m sorry but this is just silly. Henrique wasn’t even the best player for the Devils, let alone of the entire game. He popped in a rebound that went directly to his stick. Good for him, but far and away this pick makes the least sense.
Of the three stars picked by the local media, the only one I actually agree with is Marty Brodeur. I think the other two stars belong to Cam Atkinson with the game-winning shootout goal and an assist on the Anisimov goal and Curtis McElhinney. While McElhinney was faced with the same barrage of rubber that Brodeur was in regulation he did come up big a few times to keep it a 1 goal game. Going a perfect 3 for 3 in the shootouts was impressive as well. Since Bobrovsky has been out the McElhinney/McKenna duo has backstopped the team to a 6-3-1 record, or 13 of 20 possible points. When Bob left the game against Tampa you’d have guessed based upon some people’s reactions that the it was announced the team was being sold and moved to Pittsburgh as a 2nd team there. Coming away with 50% of available points during this stretch would have been considered a win until Bob was ready to resume his duties.
Game In One Picture
Stud – Martin Brodeur
What’s there to say that I didn’t say above? Heckuva game by one of the all-time greats. Glad Cam could pry the 2nd point from Marty’s hands in shootouts.
Dud – The power play unit
Oy veh. Zero for five on the power play is not the recipe for success to climb the Metro ladder. Yes, we hit a hot goaltender tonight but we’ve absolutely got to get the power play going against Pittsburgh if we want to continue to rise through the ranks and create some separation between us and the Rangers, Flyers, Devils and Hurricanes.
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