Well that game was basically a moral victory. The Jackets lost 3-2, and took zero points home, but they played hard, never gave up, and were in it right up until the last seconds. The Jackets ended up outshooting the Devils 34-29, and the possession stats can go either way, as the Devils had a slight edge in Corsi, while the Jackets had a slight edge in Fenwick (thanks to the CBJ blocking 15 Devil’s shots). Anton Forsberg was very solid in his first start, with two goals coming on screened shots, and one coming on a goal-mouth scramble. He gave them a chance to win, which is really all you can ask for from a rookie minor leaguer. In addition to Forsberg, I’d count another eight Jackets who could arguably be out of the lineup were the Jackets to actually be completely healthy. With all that considered, I’m pretty pleased with the effort the Jackets put forward tonight, the way they played the game (conservative, limit their own mistakes), and actually having a chance to win. Until they start getting some bodies back, I’m not expecting them to beat any decent team (and Jersey is decent), but would just like to see them make the games competitive..
3rd Star: Nick Foligno
What more can be said about Nick Foligno. I hate using words like manly and ballsy, as they are subtly ridiculously sexist. I’m having trouble coming up with a better way to describe Foligno’s performance tonight though. I was really not expecting him to play this game, and he took a shot off the head as well, and no one would have blamed him for not coming back. Instead, he not only barely missed any time, he played 18:17 of solid hockey (fourth among CBJ forwards). I thought the Ryan Johansen, Cam Atkinson, Scott Hartnell line was fantastic tonight (combined 15 shots on goal), but Foligno was easily the best player other than them.
2nd Star: Marek Zidlicky
Zidlicky had a solid game, but I’m going to focus on his play where Foligno got hurt. That was a pretty solid crosscheck from behind, pushing a guy face-first into an oncoming slapshot. Now I’m sure Zidlicky didn’t do it on purpose, and I highly doubt he was trying to get Foligno nearly killed, but in the moment, I really did not like that play. Sometimes you just push on a guy expecting more resistance, so you hit fairly hard, and he goes down easier than expected. That’s likely what happened here, but still, it was an unnecessary play that could have been a career-altering injury.
1st Star: Adam Larsson
Weak sauce. Larsson did very little besides score the game winning goal. Yes, I know that is important, but he’s a defenseman who isn’t really that great defensively (and wasn’t anything special tonight), doesn’t really move the needle offensively, and played only 15:16 of ice time. Cody Goloubef was the only defenseman to play less in this game, and he missed most of the third period with an injury. Larsson’s goal even came on his only shot on net, but it was the game winner, so lazy star pickers gonna be lazy. Lame.
Stud: The Refs
We give the refs a lot of crap in these recap posts. I would bet if you were to go back through the history of these and count up the number of times the refs have been the dud, you would find more of them than anyone or anything else appears as the ‘Stud’ or the ‘Dud’. I do have to give them props for tonight’s game though. Not so much for how they called the game from a penalty perspective, which was totally nondescript (about the best thing you can ever say about the ref’s game calling penalties). I’m going to guess a lot of people will have issues with the embellishment call on Hartnell, but I have no problem with it. He dropped like a rock on that play, and I have no doubt he could have stayed on his feet had he wanted to. No, the real reason I am giving the refs a stud here was for the work done on the game tying goal. I would bet that 95% of the time, the ref would have been on the back of the net, would not have seen the puck still being loose the entire time, and would have blown it dead. Instead, referee Dan O’Rourke, was in the perfect position to not disrupt the play, but still keep his eye on the puck the entire time. I was shouting for them to blow the play dead as it happened, but the overhead view pretty clearly showed the puck sitting just off Forsberg’s pad the entire time. The play obviously worked against the Blue Jackets, but I just know the refs get so much blame, so often, that I figured to throw them a bone for a job well done on that play.
Dud: The Talent
I wasn’t around for the early days of the franchise (well I was alive, but living in Canada and barely caring about the Blue Jackets existence), but I can imagine watching them was much like watching the team tonight. This isn’t really a knock on them too much, as most of the forwards did everything they can do. Unfortunately, it just isn’t enough. Firing 34 shots on goal is nice, but when you only have four top nine forwards in the lineup, those shots just aren’t going to be dangerous enough. There’s a place in the NHL for most of these guys (I’ll let you fill in the exceptions in your mind), but right now, most of this team is not talented enough to be playing the kinds of minutes they are being forced to play.
The Jackets have now lost five straight games, dropping them to 4-7 on the season, and seventh (out of eight teams) in the Metro division. They are off until Tuesday, when they take on the eighth place Carolina Hurricanes, one of the few teams possibly matching the Jackets in the injury department. Boone Jenner has been practicing, and Artem Anisimov could be looking at a return, so the Jackets might be bringing a legitimate top six into the match-up with the Canes.
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