Head Coach John Tortorella made his Nationwide Arena debut on Halloween night. The coach is in a difficult position, trying to take a team that lost seven straight to open the season, and getting them back on track and into the playoffs. His tenure hasn’t even reached two weeks but the team has found a way to win a pair of games under him. Addressing the media before the game Tortorella was not concerned about his first home game, his only concern was “how we play tonight against a good team.”
There were several changes to lineup as Brandon Saad drew back into the lineup along with Jared Boll. David Clarkson and Rene Bourque were healthy scratches and Fedor Tyutin was scratched for the second straight game. The forward lines were given a shake, with Ryan Johansen centering Scott Hartnell and Cam Atkinson while Brandon Dubinsky centered Brandon Saad and Nick Foligno to begin the game. Alexander Wennberg was dropped to the 4th line.
Tortorella stuck with the same defensive pairings as the previous game but began to switch things up offensively later in the second period. Juggling the lines helped to get a few players moving and involved, mainly Wennberg, but the Jackets still struggled to get shots.
The only goal the Blue Jackets scored in the first period came from Brandon Saad, who had an easy tip-in. The Jackets were only 2 seconds removed from a power play as Ryan Murray (playing the left wing half wall) whipped a pass cross-ice to Dubinsky who then sent a saucer pass into the slot. Saad was standing behind the Winnipeg defenders, wide open, and allowed the puck to deflect from his stick to the net behind opposing goaltender Ondrej Pavelec.
The Jets scored three goals on eleven shots in the first period, chasing Sergei Bobrovsky, and those would be enough to win it. Scott Hartnell scored late in the game with the goaltender pulled, but it was too little too late.
Notes
The Winnipeg Jets rarely allowed the Columbus Blue Jackets a chance to get setup offensively. The Jets were too fast and too skilled for the Jackets, trapping out the blue line and turning around most of the zone entries from the Jackets. The Jets showed off their speed all night long and burned the tired Jackets consistently.
Even on the penalty kill, aside from the goal against, the Jets were first to the puck and consistently clearing the zone before the Jackets could set. Setting all of their skaters near the blue line and collapsing on the player with the puck, the Jets suffocated the Jackets entries. It was especially effective late in the third as the Jets killed a 4-minute double minor without breaking a sweat.
Tortorella has taken a liking to David Savard, who has led the Jackets in ice time for several games. Tonight he played 27:47, registering 5 shots on goal (team high) and an assist. That’s a stat line that you expect to see from players like Ryan Suter and Drew Doughty. He was a minus-1 at even strength Corsi, which is respectable in his situation. His partner, Jack Johnson, broke even playing 26:09.
There were 64 faceoffs in this game and nearly half of them occurred in the Jackets zone (28). Even worse, the Jackets only won 10 of the faceoffs in there own zone.
Sergei Bobrovsky was replaced by Curtis McElhinney to begin the second period. Bobrovsky gave up 3 goals on 11 shots but McElhinney was able to keep the Jackets in it, stopping all 16 shots he faced.
If Bryan Little isn’t on your fantasy team, he should be.
Ryan Johansen was visibly frustrated at times in the game. It led to him taking a bad penalty early in the game, but it also led to this gif.
Quote of the Night
It was a chore to make just a simple play…it’s not a lack of care, we just have not been able to make plays
-John Tortorella
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