A valiant effort, but a disappointing outcome as the Jackets fall 2-1 in regulation to the Penguins. The Jackets controlled the play for most of the game, but couldn’t buy a goal until it was too late. Strange flow to the game tonight, as the first and second periods were riddled with penalties and powerplays, but no goals. The third was a barnburner, with the two teams combining for a whopping 28 shots on goal (and only one powerplay). The bad news is a regulation loss. The good news, is the Maple Leafs also lost in regulation. This still leaves the Blue Jackets in the drivers seat in terms of making the playoffs. Four teams are still tied at 80 points. The Jackets still hold the regulation wins tiebreaker over Washington, Detroit and Toronto. Columbus no longer has a game in hand on anyone, but they do still have on over the Leafs. So it’s on the Jackets players now. The playoffs are in their hands. If they equal or better the teams they are battling, they make the playoffs. If two of those three teams outplay them, then the CBJ didn’t deserve to make the playoffs anyway.
Third Star: James Wisniewski
Wiz was fine tonight. He had a couple of the requisite James Wisniewski boneheaded turnovers. A couple of sweet stretch passes. And a bomb on the powerplay that tickled the twine. I actually expected to see Beau Bennett in this spot, as he was the best Penguins skater through two periods, was solid in the third period, and managed to score what eventually became the game winning goal.
Second Star: Chris Kunitz
Or maybe this is the spot where Bennett should have landed. Kunitz did manage a game high five shots on goal (tied with Matt Niskanen and Artem Anisimov), but his goal was soft. Downy soft. Super fluffy blanket soft. Aside from those things, the most remarkable thing he did was give Curtis McElhinney a wicked two-hander to the glove after the whistle.
First Star: Marc-Andre Fleury
I thought Fleury was unremarkable through two periods (that one stop on Dubinsky aside) but he earned this in the third period. There were a number of chances for the Blue Jackets to take the first lead of the game that Fleury shut down, allowing for the Pens to jump out in front. He was also very good late in the game to stop the final flurry by Columbus. Fleury is an interesting goalie. He’s probably the most athletic goalie in the league, but can often get himself out of position by moving too quickly and aggressively. Tonight he was calm and in control, which limited the Jackets ability to score on first shots and one-timers, and Fleury’s quickness has always allowed him to recover better than most tenders.
Stud: The Calvert-Dubinsky-Atkinson Line
This line was hands down the best forward group on the ice tonight. They were dominant at even strength, combined to set up and screen Fleury on the Jackets lone goal, and Dubinsky and Calvert were superb on the penalty kill. I really thought Cam was the the Jackets best player tonight by far, hands down. He was beating players to the puck all over the ice, taking hits to make plays, generating chances, and drawing penalties. I would put this game forward as one of his best games of the year
Dud: Backup Goaltending
Okay, I have harped on this before and I will again. Curtis McElhinney is not good enough to be a reliable backup goalie. If he’s the third goalie on the depth chart, you are very happy with it. But he’d done nothing at the NHL level to show he was ready to carry the load in the NHL is Sergei Bobrovsky went down. I know Jarmo and JD expected Bob to be a workhorse this season, but he’d topped 50 starts in his career once. To be clear, that isn’t just in the NHL, that is going back to his time as a teenager in Russia. It’s one thing to have a carer minor leaguer/below average backup in the second slot when you have in his prime Martin Broduer (ten consecutive seasons of 70+ starts), it’s another to cheap out on a backup for a guy who hadn’t proven he could handle that kind of load. With that said, that first goal was just terrible. Kunitz didn’t get much on the shot, it was from pretty far out, it wasn’t screened (look at Wiz’s body position, he was out of the line of sight), and it went right through him. Just a brutal, backbreaking, potentially playoff hopes dashing goal. The second goal was also stoppable, but less of a ‘should have had it’ goal than a ‘could have had it’ goal. Bob probably makes both of those saves, and a good backup probably saves the first one (think Anton Khudobin in Carolina, who was a UFA last summer and signed for a whopping $200k more than CMac).
Speaking of Khudobin, I’d expect to see him between the pipes in Carolina tomorrow night. With tonight’s loss, tomorrows game versus the Hurricanes becomes an absolute must win. I can accept a close, hard fought loss to the Penguins (even if they are banged up). I can’t accept two losses to the lowly Hurricanes in the heart of a playoff run. Let’s hope the Jackets know they blew their game in hand and come out firing on all cylinders.
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