What a huge night for the Blue Jackets. They entered the evening coming off a strange, emotional night last night, tied with Detroit for the final playoff spot, facing the Red Wings, and with a number of teams battling for the final playoff spots in action. The night went about as well as possible. The Jackets beat the Wings in regulation. The Devils beat the Flyers in regulation. The Penguins beat the Capitals in regulation. The Hurricanes beat the Rangers in regulation. Now if the Sharks can beat the Leafs in regulation (2-1 SJS at the time of posting), the night will be complete. The Jackets now sit in 3rd place in the Metro division, only one point back of the Rangers, who have played an extra game.
As for the game itself, well it started off ugly. It got a little better in the second period. Then woo boy was that a hell of a third period. Huge effort to stick with it and pull off the much needed two points (and almost as important keep Detroit from getting any).
3rd Star: Boone Jenner
Well this star was clearly for his goal. Don’t be mistaken, it was a fantastic goal. But Boone was probably the Jackets worst forward tonight. He managed one measly shot on goal (although he made it count). He managed four hits, but that was probably because the Jackets rarely had the puck during the 12 minutes he was on the ice. Looking at the advanced stats makes it even worse. He was last on the Jackets in Corsi percentage, managing only six shot attempts while he was out there, to thirteen against. He was middle of the pack in terms of zone starts, and he was never matched up against any of Detroit’s better players (although the press box did a good job of shutting down Zetterberg and Datsyuk).
2nd Star: Nick Foligno
I love Foligno, and man was that ever some effort on that goal, but most of what applied to Boone, applies to Foligno. Minimal impact on the scoresheet (he too scored on his only shot), and he was slightly better Corsi-wise, but he also had just about the easiest zone starts and matchups of any Jackets forward. Like Boone, he was obviously rewarded for his goal. I would have loved to see Brandon Dubinsky end up as one of the stars. He scored a terrific goal to help put the game away. He was tasked with shutting down Detroit’s top line, was buried in zone starts (16.7% offensive, lowest on the team), managed to lead all players in Corsi, and log over three minutes on both the powerplay and the penalty kill. He was worse than usual in the faceoff circle tonight (40%) but was still the Jackets best skater, and probably the best skater in the entire game. Major props to Matt Calvert as well, who flanked Dubinsky most of the night and pretty much everything that applied to Dubi applies to Calvert (change nice goal, to ridiculous effort and feed on the goal).
1st Star: Sergei Bobrovsky
Obviously. This game could have been out of hand by the end of the first period. Instead, it was a 1-1 tie. Bob was lights out this evening. I really don’t even know what more to say about him. So let me address the first period a little. Yes, the penalties were a little lopsided in number, but that was on the Jackets, not the refs. Johnson tried for the puck, missed and took out a players feet. Obvious call. Wisniewski pretty clearly pushed the net off when he was hit into it (watch the extension of his arms), and even getting hit into it might have been embellishment. Comeau saw numbers the entire way, and decided to finish his hit anyway. I felt like the borderline calls the other way that were loudly booed were also the right calls. I suppose there could have been a make-up call thrown in there, but things more or less evened out by the end of the game anyway. It ended up not mattering anyway, as Bobrovsky kept the Wings powerplay at bay. The bigger issue was the number of powerplays meant the Jackets were not able to get into much of a rhythm in the first period even when playing 5v5.
Game in One Picture
Dud: Spacing
The first period was ugly. Some of that was on the penalties, some on rust, and maybe some guys just weren’t really in the hockey frame of mind considering last night. All of that is true. But in terms of pure technical issues in the first, the Jackets spacing with the puck was absolutely atrocious. There was minimal puck support, players were flying the zone, defensemen were not moving their feet when they picked up the puck, and it seemed like every pass needed to be forced. This improved as the game went along, but was a major issue last night, and seems like it has cropped up much too frequently since the Olympic break.
Stud: The hockey world
Hockey people are the best. The fans, the players, the media, just everyone. Last night was the latest example. Rich Peverley suffers a traumatic cardiac event, very nearly could have died, yet everyone rallied in whatever way they could. The doctors, trainers, players, coaches, management, fans, media, just everyone did everything in their power to make the situation better. For some people it meant well wishes, or prayers. For some it meant stopping their night off cold, rushing down from the stands still wearing their Dallas Stars jerseys, and helping to save another human life. For Rich Peverley, it meant wanting to reach out to his teammates and ex-teammates who were witnesses. I love this game so much, and last night was both a reminder of how small and how big it can be all at one time. I send my best wishes to Rich Peverley, the Peverley family, the entire Dallas Stars organization, those close to Rich (including his former coach Todd Richards and former teammate Nathan Horton), and everyone else who has been impacted by this. Get well soon Rich.
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