The Blue Jackets were downed 5-4 in overtime last night by the Dallas Stars in a game featuring a lot of goals, but not a whole lot of highlight reel offensive plays. Sergei Bobrovsky let in a number of goals he’d like to have back, including the Stars late 3rd go-ahead goal, and the overtime game winner. Heading into the game I had planned on breaking down all of the goals scored, and through most of the 1st period I was worried I’d have nothing to write about. Instead, I’m left with a mess of garbage goals and sloppy play. So with that in mind, I’m going to quickly run through two goals for each team, as there really isn’t much to say about a well played rush that ends in a bank off a leg, or a long floater squeaking in.
1-1 tie, 1:21 2nd Period – Nikita Nikitin from Fedor Tyutin and Mark Letestu
This goal is a fantastic example of what to do on a faceoff, and something that coaches should show their players at any level. All five players on the ice for the Jackets contribute here. I highly recommend watching the video five times, each time watching one Jackets player. Letestu doesn’t win the draw at first, but still manages a clean win on the second effort. Prospal and Dorsett both get a jump in towards the faceoff dot. Had Letestu just tied up off the draw, the Jackets still would have come away with the puck. Dorsett follows with a nice heads up play, holding off his man just enough to allow Tyutin to get the puck across, but making sure to not draw an interference penalty. Vinny cuts towards the net off the draw, using the crowd at the faceoff dot as a pick. This would have allowed him to pick up a loose puck off the draw, or in the case of a clean win, break free to the net for a screen or rebound. Similarly, after winning the draw, Letestu holds up the center for a second then backs slowly away from the Stars players. Had the rebound popped out to that side he’d have been in perfect position to bury it. Now onto the defensemen: Tyutin makes a good read to quickly jump up to get the puck. Many players have a tendency to wait for the puck to get to them. Had he hesitated at all, Jagr would have been close enough to either break up the pass or at least force a worse pass from Tyutin. Not much to say about Nikitin, other than he does a good job of sliding over into space, opening up for the shot, and getting good wood on it (something he’s struggled with this year).
One more thing on this goal that I would like to point out is the movement by the forwards. Check out this screencap showing how they rotated here:
The switch by Dorsett and Prospal allows each guy to take care of their responsibilities, while creating a crowd of players around the faceoff dot. Creating a crowd of defensive players is always a plus, as this is when you create confusion, overthinking, and then hesitation by the opponent. Had the puck just sat there, either Dorsett or Prospal would have been on it. They would have had the option of walking to the net (Prospal), setting up the cycle (Dorsett), or working it low to Letestu for either a shot from there, a give and go with Vinny, or just setting up the cycle down low. Nice little bit of setup by the coaching staff, and good execution by the Jackets players (as this only works if everyone does their jobs).
2-1 Dallas, 5:28 2nd period – Derek Roy from Jordie Benn and Antoine Roussel
I hesitated to include this one, as the primary issue was Erixon not picking up Roy in front. Of course he’d just taken a puck off the head, so I’ll forgive him for not being exactly where he should be. But there are two other points I’d like to highlight. First is Adrian Aucoin getting tied up and losing his stick. This causes two other Blue Jackets (Erixon and Dorsett) to try and cover for Aucoin. Had Aucoin been able to quickly get to the front of the net, he would have switched corners with Erixon when the puck went behind the net. Instead, Erixon chased a little bit, Dorsett came down way too far, and Aucoin and Erixon didn’t communicate that they were going to switch sides. This left a lot of players out of position, which is what allowed for the open point shot. Especially egregious is the play by Dorsett. This play drives me crazy, as the Blue Jackets already had two players engaged by the goal line, and Dorsett jumping in means that even if they end up with the puck, they have no one in puck support. Dorsett needs to move to the faceoff dot area in this situation, which allows him to prevent Roussel from walking to the net. He should cover the point if the puck gets out there, and support Calvert and Erixon if the puck came free.
4-4 tie, 18:26 3rd period – RJ Umberger from Nick Foligno
This breakdown is less about the scoring of the goal itself, and more about the forecheck that created it. I have always been partial to a strong two-man forecheck, and this was executed to perfection by Umberger and Atkinson. Jordie Benn carries the puck behind the net, and both Jackets forwards have perfect position and angles to prevent Benn from walking out with the puck. They take away any tape-to-tape passes and force him to wrap the puck. Good work by Foligno and Moore as well, as both players were in prime position to pinch on any wraps. If you watch closely when the camera pans out, you’ll see Moore moving away from the opposite boards from where Foligno picks up the puck. Foligno follows up the good defensive play with a beautiful pass, which Umberger sneaks home. The quick pass and shot make sure Bachman and the Stars defense are not prepared for it. Atkinson also sets a nice quick, moving screen in front of Bachman so he can’t follow the pass all the way through to the shot.
5-4 Dallas, 3:03 OT – Louis Eriksson from Derek Roy and Brenden Dillon
Now, I don’t have too much to say on this one but figured I’d include it because it was the game winner. All the fingers were pointing to Bobrovsky and Aucoin after this goal and rightfully so. Bobrovsky played that rebound terribly, and Aucoin just got plain beat. However, I would like to go back a few seconds later to point out some grade A puckwatching by Umberger. Stephane Robidas had jumped up into the rush, so Derek Roy ended up at the right point. A 4v4 situation is defended much like a penalty kill is, with a fluid box. Umberger’s job is to guard Roy, and make sure nothing sneaks backdoor. Check out these two screenshots:
Umberger never checks to see if Roy is still where he last saw him. You’ll notice the way RJ turns his head on Dillon’s pass that he had no idea Roy was sneaking down. This gave Roy a clean shooting lane, Bob kicked out a juicy rebound, Aucoin got beat by Eriksson, Bob was mesmerized by the puck, and Eriksson finished. Even with being horribly outshot the Jackets still had a shot to win this one. Unfortunately a string of small (and some big) mistakes keeps this in the OTL column and allows the Stars to leave town with the extra point.
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