Last night continued the series of “most important games” for the Blue Jackets as the boys in Union Blue fight to claw into a playoff spot. There was a lot on the line, not only two coveted points but a battle for pride as JD faced his former club and Ken Hitchcock was once again in Nationwide. The Blues came in on the second night of a back to back riding a 6 game win streak and the Jackets were bringing Brandon Dubinsky and Jared Boll back into the lineup.
The game started off eerily similar to the painful games of the start of the season. Right off the bat Shattenkirk would get a long shot past Bobrovsky and the Jackets were down 0-1. It seemed Bob was watching more for a deflection of the shot and the puck snuck past him on the far post. Things got more dismal as our team then immediately went on the penalty kill. But the PK unit remained strong and slowly, lines 3 and 4 seemed to be setting the tempo we wanted for the game. We were still sputtering to get to full strength – Ryan Johansen is still learning to use that big frame more – when the energy of Cam Atkinson and Matt Calvert paid off in a tying goal. The first period would end with one of many scrums but with the teams sitting 1-1.
The second period brought back an awake Jackets team. While continuously outshot on the night, and never benefiting from a power play opportunity, the boys would come roaring back with their signature energy and go up 3-1 on a beautiful Artem Anisimov goal and then a Ryan Johansen shot. It seems young Ryan is finding that shot and potting the ones he needs to.
The third period came and instead of resting on the lead, the Jackets delivered once again – courtesy of an absolutely beautiful cross ice pass from Mark Letestu to Marian Gaborik. The tally of 4-1 would stand and deliver a win to a jacked up Nationwide crowd. The Blues just didn’t seem to keep up with our drive and, though they continually responded with physicality that brought more than a few scrums to the ice, (including a 10 minute misconduct call on Dubi who took issue with the Blues treatment of Matt Calvert) but that St. Louis crew couldn’t keep up with the Jackets last night.
All in all it was a great game to be a part of: late in the season, games that matter, players giving their all, and a team delivering a win to the home crowd. And what an important statement to make as well since the boys will not be playing in Columbus for another two weeks. Chicago helped us (a bit) last night by beating Detroit but the Wings still walked away with one point. I’ve been saying for a while that this playoff chase is really about overtaking Detroit so we need to gather every point we can and hope for every point to kept away from the Wings.
Tonight brings another “biggest game ever” as we head to Minnesota to take on Todd Richards’ former club, the Wild. It will be huge to see if the boys can bring that signature play to the ice again after such a big game. I was lucky enough to attend a pre-game reception with John Davidson where he talked again about the Blue Jackets’ philosophy of being “never out worked”. It was great to see that promise fulfilled tonight.
Go Jackets!
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