The saying goes that hockey is a game of inches. This season has been about the Blue Jackets seemingly always coming up a few inches short. Including in two previous match ups against Colorado. Thankfully, tonight the team reversed the trend.
A 3 PM puck drop certainly changed up fans’ scheduled and it seemed that it may have been affecting the team. The game’s slow development was reflected in the crowd and at one point, my seat mate commented on how quiet it was in Nationwide Arena (and he’s a Blue Jackets fan). The first period also certainly gave us a lot to look at – this marked the first full game with the current iteration of the Jackets’ roster now including Cody Goloubef and Dalton Prout and I’ll admit to having to clarify Nick Drazenovic‘s jersey number once while he was on the ice.
While the Jackets led in all stats including shots on goal, fights, and face-offs they were unable to convert a 5-on-3 which also took away Artem Anisimov after he blocked a shot off his leg/ankle and built measurable frustrations with too many clears leaving the puck in the Jackets’ own end. The period ended 0-0.
Instead of returning forcefully, the second period felt a bit more discombobulated. A spirited fight by Dalton Prout – who would later say during the intermission that he would “do anything to stay” – seemed to fall flat with the team and the only scoring came from a wonky goal from P.A. Parenteau which seemed to float strangely towards goal through many screening players and end up lobbing over Bobrovsky’s shoulder for the first point of the game.
Moments later, we’d also lose Nikita Nikitin after an aggressive check into the boards from Patrick Bordeleau. Todd Richards would respond by lining up his ‘muscle’ line on the ice and Bordeleau stayed out ready to face the retaliation of the team – which would come at the hands of Jared Boll. Points for effort there by Boll but the skirmish was tilted in Colorado’s favor with Boll really only winning in the court of fan favor for standing up for a teammate. Coach Richards would later say in the post-game press conference that “sticking up for your teammates…it takes real courage.” Nikitin would not return to play last night and I have to worry about the repeated hits to the head the big Russian has been taking dating back to his time in the KHL during this year’s lockout.
The third period began with the Jackets down 1-0, and the Jackets’ play was much more hungry. Matt Calvert continued his buzzing game with strong back checking and energy. Nick Foligno – and who doesn’t love this guy? – fought for a scoring opportunity ending with him lying flat out on the ice still attempting the wrap around goal with his outstretched stick. Ultimately, the Jackets would earn another crazy 5-3 opportunity that finally yielded the Jackets’ tying goal. Vinny Prospal took a beautiful pass set up by Tyutin and Foligno and banged it in (well thanks to Ryan O’Reilly – hey welcome back!) for the score.
We ended regulation tied, and with a point in hand, Jackets fans dared to hope we could get point #2. We didn’t have to wait too long. The Jackets would go on another power play and a beautiful pass to Artem Anisimov allowed him to fire a shot right past Varlamov’s shoulder and as fans reacted in joyous disbelief, Artie stood in the faceoff circle, arms raised in victory, his big frame personifying that the fight in this team had finally paid off.
It was great to see the guys’ hard effort rewarded and for once, the story that was becoming too familiar of being “just that close” was now swung in our favor. It was later shared on the post game that as the team entered the locker room, guys cheered and someone yelled out “Hallelujah!” Yep! That’s how we felt too.
Tuesday brings us Edmonton and more curiosity of who will suit up for the Union Blue. Nikitin may be out and Dubinsky, Johnson and Brassard all (as of this writing) remain on IR. Tonight was a positive night though on the youth side of this organization – Tim Erixon looks to be settling into his game more and more. There were a few errors on his part but he is getting more and more comfortable out there. Ryan Johansen also stood tall tonight – winning the majority of his faceoffs and showing flashes of what he can be. Let us also not ignore that the AHL club in Springfield ended the weekend with 8 out of 8 possible points – no small feat and a sign that we can build winners here if we get on the right track.
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