In the first game back from Christmas break, the Blue Jackets faced off against the Boston Bruins, a team whose season has been inconsistent and (for a lack of a better term) weird. Shenanigans between Prout and Lucic from the last time these two teams met have left hockey fans from all over waiting for this game. Despite the shenanigans being once again loud and exciting, they definitely weren’t the highlight of the game.

Highlights

The Good:

I don’t really know where to start. I’ve been told that I’m too critical, and that’s probably true, which makes this is even more weird. So, let’s begin.

• First and foremost: Jack Johnson. Usually one of the easiest players to pick on and say “Man, he’s awful,” Jack had a genuinely impressive game tonight. He was breaking up Bruins’ zone entries left and right, both on the penalty kill and 5v5. He pinched when he needed to, was never caught out of position, and possessed the puck well. Jack has a tendency to not shoot quick enough or enough in general, but tonight he had 4 shots on goal, the most from any Blue Jacket. He also had a beauty of an assist on Nick Foligno’s goal and another incidental assist on Jeremy Morin’s first goal as a Blue Jacket. To top it all off from a nitpicky perspective, Johnson was one of the best Columbus player possession wise along with David Savard, who was also very solid. This was without a doubt the best showing from that pair all season.

• Scott Hartnell: Hartnell is one of the top players in the league in CorsiRel%, meaning that he has one of the best influence’s on his team’s possession (when Hartnell is on the ice = generally good possession & when Hartnell is off the ice = generally poor possession). While his overall possession numbers aren’t all that good (blame it on score effects), Hartnell was +6 in shot attempts when the score was close. Perhaps more importantly, Hartnell scored 2 goals in his return tonight.

• Just about everything else: Seriously, tonight was great. The first two period possession was great, against a team that usually dominates possession wise. The Jackets scored 5(!) 5v5 goals tonight, the most of the season. Connauton with his first 3 point night of his career; Morin scores his first as a Jacket; Dubi, Hartnell, Calvert, Connauton, and Johnson all with multi-point nights, and McElhinney even lucked his way into a solid Save%

The Bad The Not-So-Good

Remember when I said I was too critical? Well, this might be one of those times…

Curtis McElhinney: I know, I know. He had a solid night with a solid Save%, and yes, he did let in fewer goals than both Svedberg and Rask. Plus, the second goal that he allowed tonight was incredibly flukey. But, McElhinney still wasn’t very good tonight. He was consistently out of position and I caught him angling himself towards the shooter instead of towards the puck (here’s a very good and quick video that explains this idea through the eyes of a shooter). He also did this weird thing where he was standing straight up when the Bruins were entering the zone, a shot came on net, and he almost looked like he fell? Anyhoo, he needs to fix some things.

That said, McElhinney controlled his rebounds tonight better than I’ve seen him do in a long time, which is a huge improvement in his game. He did well filling in for Bobrovsky on such short notice.

The Ugly

Let’s all laugh at Jack Edwards (the Jeff Rimer for the Boston Bruins) and call it a day.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRI9-OEpmBg]