So I was planning on being positive tonight. My last few recaps have been super negative. I also seem to get saddled with the CBJ’s worst games. So the first period happens. Probably their worst period of the season. I come to the conclusion the team has the Union Blue recap schedule posted in the dressing room and choose to crap the bed when I have to write about it. I’m not going to say anything more about the first period other than it sucked and Sergei Bobrovsky kept them in it. Then the second period happened, and it was fantastic. One of the better periods of hockey the Jackets have played all season. They dominated the play, but they did it in the physical, “Blue Jackets hockey” way that we had all come to know and love. The third period wasn’t a dominant performance by any means, but it was damn entertaining. The Capitals outshot the Jackets in the third, but that felt more like a team down for a good chunk of the period pressing to tie it up. Which the Caps managed to do twice. Unfortunately, the Jackets couldn’t pull out the overtime victory, falling 5-4 and bringing the wining streak to an end. The Jackets now sit at 7-0-1 in the month of December. That is pretty good. Less good is the Jackets now sitting in no-man’s land in the standings. They are seven points back of the Caps and the Florida Panthers for the final playoff spots. They were 10 points back at the end of November. It’s just that hard to make up points in the standings, especially when giving out points to the opposition in overtime or the shootout. The Jackets have also pulled too far ahead of the bottom feeding Edmonton Oilers. So screw it. Let’s keep this thing going. Who cares if the Jackets only have a 1.6% chance of making the playoffs (per SportsClubStats). This team to too good to tank without sitting Bob (who is in a contract year), and a handful of other players. The odds may be stacked against making the playoffs, but they are equally stacked against ending up with McDavid or Eichel. So I’ve flipped back again, and am now pulling for the historic comeback.
Third Star: Karl Alzner
Any time a defensive defenseman has a multi-point night in a victory, he’s probably gettting a star. Even if his goal was Charmin soft (Bob really should have had that one). Alzner was fine, never really standing out in his 18:09 of ice time. Which I guess is good considering his role (think a less monstrous Dalton Prout).
Second Star: Eric Fehr
Sure, he scored the game winner. And picked up an assist. Any time a scrappy lower line player picks up multiple points and an over time winner, he’s probably getting a star. Yes, I know I used the same sentiment for Alzner. Fehr was fine, never really standing out much in his 14:33 of ice time. Which I guess is good considering his role (think a lower motored Matt Calvert).
So this is the second game I have done for the Caps, and the second time Alex Ovechkin was shut out of the stars. This despite leading the game in shots both times (albeit tied with Nick Foligno tonight), and being a general force of nature on the ice. Almost every time Ovechkin is on the ice, the game revolves around him, whether he has the puck or not. If he has the puck, everyone is scrambling. If another Cap has the puck, they are trying to find Ovechkin (sometimes to their detriment) and the Jackets are all cognizant of where he is on the ice. When the Jackets have the puck, it’s almost like they are more concerned with keeping it away from Ovechkin than scoring themselves. There are few players who bend the play like this. I say there are only three (Ovechkin, Crosby, and Stamkos). I get that he was held pointless tonight, but still. I guess I don’t necessarily think points are the be-all, end-all of the three star selections, and think the players who played the best should be honored. I’d have rather seen Ovechkin get one of these two spots, with Fehr or Alzner getting the other one for contributing on the scoresheet (or other multi-point Caps like Jason Chimera, Mike Green, or Michael Latta).
First Star: Nick Foligno
Foligno just keeps on trucking. I keep expecting him to slow down. I mean, how can you really expect a 27 year old with a career high of 18 goals to keep scoring at a near 50 goal pace. Yet Foligno keeps on scoring. Two more tonight, along with an assist on six shots on goal. This strikes me as very similar to Alex Steen last year: a very solid middle of the lineup forward, in his late-ish 20’s, in a contract year scoring at rate that blows all his career numbers out of the water. Steen eventually got hurt, slowed down a little, and only finished with 33 goals (in 68 games), which was still nine goals above his career best. They both present interesting cases in terms of their next contracts, as Steen dropped off this season to his usual level of play (a 22 goal pace this year, having average 21 goals per 82 games over his career). I love Foligno, and I hope he becomes some sort of mid-career breakout superstar, but I will be pretty (and happily) surprised if he gets to the 33 goals that Steen finished with last year.
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Dud: The idea the Sergei Bobrovsky “wants” Ovechkin to take weakside one-timers on the powerplay
So that was a thing that was said. By someone paid to speak intelligently about hockey. I’m not going to name names, but you can probably guess. That is just one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard a commenter say. Ovechkin is one of the all-time greats when it comes to weakside one-timers on the powerplay. That’s what he does, he sits over there on the backdoor, and rips it. It’s not a special strategy, but if you have a shot like his, you can do it and be successful. It’s what Brett Hull made a career of doing. Stamkos is amazing at it now as well. Ovechkin has scored more often than either of them on the powerplay. He’s actually fourth all time in powerplay goals per game. The guys he is behind (Lemieux, Bossy, Kerr) all played a significant amount of their careers in the bonkers 1980’s. Ovechkin is third among active players in powerplay goals (behind Jagr and Iginla), and could move into second next season. The next best powerplay goal scorer to start his career after 1995 is Milan Hejduk in 40th. So that was a lot of stats there. My point is that NO ONE wants to leave Ovechkin open so he can tee off on one-timers for the challenge of sliding cross-crease for the save. It’s a ridiculous statement. It’s like saying if you wanted to be pitching against any player in baseball, you’d want to be pitching to Mike Trout. If you were trying to shut down a quarterback, you’d want to be facing Aaron Rodgers. If you wanted an opponent to have the ball, you’d want it to be Lebron James. No. Just no. I don’t care how confident Sergei Bobrovsky is, he does not WANT the Jackets to allow Ovechkin to have that shot.
Instead, Sergei Bobrovsky being really good allows the Jackets to not have someone right on Ovechkin. It allows them to have the high forward play the middle of the ice, albeit a little lower and more focused on the the passing lanes to Ovechkin than normal. Many teams will have the forward in the middle of the ice over on Ovechkin’s side, which opens up the defenseman up high (Mike Green). Bob allows that forward to cheat to the middle a little, play the passing lanes to Ovechkin a little more aggressively than usual, yet still be in Green’s shooting lane. This is so much different than wanting Ovechkin to take the shot. I realize it is somewhat semantics, but it’s the kind of difference I think is important. Talent dictates strategy and matchups, and noting how the CBJ were playing Ovechkin when down a man was a point that could have been used to demonstrate how Ovechkin changes the Jackets strategy in comparison to other non-Tampa opponents, and how Bob changes the Jackets strategy in comparison to other Caps opponents. Instead it was used to say ridiculous things about Sergei Bobrovsky’s confidence.
Stud: Jeremy Morin
I was pretty impressed with Morin tonight. He doesn’t play a fancy game, but he’s got decent size and speed, and knows what to do with the puck. He reminds me a little of Blake Comeau, but actually putting the puck on net instead of circling the zone. I was pretty down on that trade when it happened (defensemen don’t bust when putting up the AHL numbers Tim Erixon put up at his age), but Morin might turn me around. I think Erixon will be the more impactful player long term, but Morin is a definite top nine player who seems to have been more of a numbers crunch in Chicago than the bust I thought he might be. Three shots on goal, one leading to the Jackets first lead of the game, not a bad night for a guy on a new team playing third line minutes. I look forward to seeing what he can do the rest of the season.
So that is it for tonight, a 4-3 overtime loss to the Caps. We’ll see you back at Nationwide on Saturday, where the Jackets will take on Tim Erixon and the Chicago Blackhawks.
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