Readers, if you haven’t heard the term before, this is what you call a trap game. A team like the CBJ with tons of momentum enters the barn of a team that’s had a particularly turbulent year seeing personnel changes both on the bench and behind the bench. It’s all too easy to come off of a 5-1 win against a division leader like the Capitals with a little too much confidence. I think we were a victim of that overconfidence from the moment the puck dropped. Also, as we’ve seen time and time again we seemed to play to the level of our opponent. We lacked the ferocity and work ethic that led us to the previous 5-1 victory against the superior Capitals. Admittedly I missed seeing the 1st goal scored against the Jackets as I was stuck in traffic en route to the CBJ game watching party at the Dublin Buffalo Wild Wings but it sounded like the result of sloppy play in our own end that ended up in the back of our net. Let’s get to the three stars per NHL.com:
3rd Star: Tyler Ennis
Ennis was a key contributor on two goals and logged an impressive 25 minutes for the evening. That said, I can’t help but feel like either one of the net minders would have been more deserving of this 3rd spot. While save percentages and GAA were nothing amazing, had either Miller or Bobrovsky had an off game, we could have easily seen combined goal count approaching the 10-12 mark. Special nod to Bobrovsky for going a perfect 3 for 3 in the shoot out.
2nd Star: Brandon Dubinsky
Dubie nets a goal and an assist on what was a great evening for his line. His power play goal was an awesome entire line effort with him, Calvert and Atkinson all converging on the net, leaving no breathing room for Miller and his defenders. His assist from the half-wall to get the puck to Nikitin and Calvert was credited by statisticians as an even strength goal but each replay I watch indicates the puck crossed the line before the PP had expired. By my count, that made us 2/2 on the PP tonight. More to come on that.
1st Star: Tyler Myers
Myers’ 2nd goal was certainly the definition of timely even if I have the following issue with the tripping call made against Savard that put Myers and his Sabre brethren on the PP: Was it a trip? Yes. Was it called the other 7 times it happened this game? No. Less than 2 minutes to go in a game is not the time to start changing your standards for what gets called and what doesn’t. I know I sound like a broken record but all I ask for from the zebras is a little consistency.
Stud: Power Play
Once again, by the all-important ‘what I consider a PP’ stat, we were 100% on the power play tonight. Watching those lines collapse in front of the net was a thing of sheer beauty and is sure to cause net minders absolute fits.
Dud: Effort/Consistency
Good teams find ways to win games where they don’t play their best. I suppose by that measure, I can officially call us a good team. While I’ll gladly take the 2 points from Buffalo tonight, there’s no way we can reasonably expect to continue collecting points on the road or at home with efforts like tonight. I really liked the first 15 minutes of our 3rd period because while we had a 3-2 lead we played as if we were playing from behind. Sadly, we changed gears to a more prevent-style defense that was partially responsible for allowing Buffalo to tie it up. Luckily, Buffalo is in the Atlantic so them getting the freebie point is of little consequence to us. I’ve got to expect that McElhinney will get the start against LA and then we’ll go back to Bobrovsky for our tilt against Metro opponent Philadelphia Flyers.
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