Three Stars and Game in One Picture: MTL @ CBJ

*sigh*

The Jackets…ugh…the Jackets came into Nationwide Arena tonight looking to find a way to stop spinning around the deep end, 10 feet underwater. Metaphorically, the Blue Jackets seem to be stuck in a deep, dark end of the pool with no way to tell which was is up, down, left, right or what. The bad news is, that while they’re drowning the other 4 teams ahead of them keep pouring water into the pool. See the problem here? For 50 or so minutes the Jackets looked like they had done exactly what they needed to do: played a solid enough game against a good foe to lock up two points and right themselves, even if it was still 10 feet under the meniscus point of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Then, terror struck.

I’ll just leave this stat here. Let it simmer.

The Blue Jackets went 1/1 on the powerplay, and that powerplay was spectacular. The Canadiens went 3/7 on the man-advantage.

3^rd Star: Sergei Bobrovsky

Bob is as Bob does. He was on fire at even strength again tonight, even with the bit of the hiccup late in the 1^st period where everyone got a scare (thanks goal line! Way to bend!) that amazingly was called back in favor of the Jackets. He’s really earning that 7 million dollar contract, as the Jackets weren’t defensively responsible, really, at any point in this hockey game. At one point I believe I saw the shot clock read 21-12. Unacceptable! Bob deserves the 1^st star and a win after his effort, and his boys ruined it for him.

2^nd Star: Andrei Markov

I don’t know, this is a weird name for a referee. That’s who this is, right? A ref?

1^st Star: Max Pacioretty

I mean, someone has to unwrap the gifts on Christmas morning, right? Max was more than happy to do that tonight.

Game in One Picture:

Stud: Powerplay

While the Jackets only got one chance at it, they made it count. Holy cow, Joey. What a shot! I’m glad the Jackets were able to sign him long term…Johansen has quietly had an 11 game point streak going. With all the up and down of the season, I don’t blame people for seeing that slip under their radar.

Dud: That French Sleeper Cell Agent Discipline

Again the Jackets were burned because of a seemingly inability to sometimes just stay out of the box. Granted, all of the penalties in those last 10 minutes were BS (and now the hockey podcast) BUT YOU STILL CAN’T PUT YOURSELVES IN THOSE POSITIONS. You should know you’re not playing a hockey team, you’re playing the CAN-AH-DE-YEN. You know they’re going to dive and you know the refs are going to look for anything they can do to avoid having another legal investigation on their hands.

There you have it. Another 2 points gone quicker than the hot dogs at dime-a-dog night. Whoever you blame for these screwups, you have to hope that he’s gone soon. It’s hard to say at 41 games out of the checkered flag the Jackets are done but one can’t reasonably assume they’ll magically get better if all else stays the same. Be angry about this one and know that the players are too.

Carry the Flag! (But not too high! Manny Malholtra’s just waiting for the opportunity!)