What a game for the CBJ. The Blue Jackets took down the Blues 3-1 tonight, in a game where the CBJ won just about everything. Per NHL.com and War-on-Ice.com, the CBJ paced the Blues in shots, hits, faceoff wins, shot attempts, scoring chances, and most importantly goals. The Jackets dominated the Blues top to bottom, with only Dmitrij Jaskin, Robby Fabbri, and Jori Lehtera (who left the game early due to injury) above 50% Corsi. Beyond the numbers, the game was a clinic in how the CBJ want to play. They dominated the battles in the corners, and kept the Blues pinned deep in their own end often. This was the blueprint game for how the CBJ can hang with the best teams in the league.
The Good: Kerby Rychel
He played limited minutes, but he looked really good out there. He picked up an assist on Cody Goloubef’s goal, and paced the fourth line with three shots on goal. Rychel was at 50% in his Corsi-ing as well, which is pretty good considering how the fourth line tends to end up. He managed to look better on that line than Alexander Wennberg did (not saying he’s better than Wennberg, and yes Wennberg was banged up while playing there).
The Bad: The Blues Goal
Not a strong goal for Ryan Murray. It was a strange decision off a strange play. I presume he still thought Lehtera was on the ice, but he’d gotten up, and was able to knock the puck away from Murray, right to Kevin Shattenkirk. To make matters worse, Murray bloodied him up on the play with a high-stick, giving the Jackets no chance to get right back at the Blues as they were stuck killing a penalty. Stay tuned for more thoughts on Ryan Murray this evening.
The Crazy: Second Periods in Mid-November
The CBJ had arguably their best period of the season in the second period of this game. The argument would be made by the second period of last Tuesday’s game against Vancouver. The Jackets had more shots on goal that period (22 to tonight’s 21), but also allowed 7 shots against the Canucks, versus only 3 for the Blues. Both periods approached the CBJ record 25 shots on net in one period, recorded 4/27/2013 versus the Predators (per CBJ PR). Including the November 3rd game versus the Sharks, the CBJ have now outshot their opponents 51-25, and outscored them 4-1.
The Beautiful: Saad’s 1st Goal
Oh man, was that ever nice. That play by Murray is why I’m willing to put up with plays like the one he made on the St. Louis goal. You don’t want him turning the puck over, but you also don’t want to put a muzzle on the skills and vision that setup goals like this. Well “setup” isn’t the right word, because holy crap was that a finish. Jeff Rimer said after that goal that Saad’s backhand is better than a lot of players’ forehands. That’s about as cliche a comment as any after a backhanded snipe, but in this case it was true. That shot was a real humdinger.
Quote of the Night: John Tortorella
“I don’t think we gave anything free. We didn’t let them transition. The puck was along the wall quite a bit, did a lot of rotating of the puck. That’s part of what we talked about. We knew they played last night, although one of their d was out tonight, but we wanted their players to play in their own end zone. We didn’t want to allow anything for free, as far as turning pucks over in the neutral zone, and we made them play underneath the hashmarks.”
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
