Stars of the Night & Game in One Picture: Philly @ CBJ

I jokingly mentioned to friends that I didn’t want Wizniewski or Gaborik on the ice for this game as the team roster that got beat in Philadelphia had to redeem themselves for that horrible loss. When I said that I had no idea I’d be single-handedly cursing Gaborik to yet more months on the IR. I’ll never make statements like that again. This game had a character test nestled within the character test that was the entire game and gave us a chance to learn a lot about our team. The obvious question going into tonight was how would we bounce back from a brutal loss at our own hands in Philly? At the end of the 2nd period tonight the obvious question was how would we bounce back from a brutal final 140 seconds of the 2nd period where two Flyers I frequently covet in Wayne Simmonds and Sean Couturier tied up what appeared to be a game that the CBJ had well under control. Early in the third, the Nikitin-Savard pairing made abundantly clear that there would be no such repeat of Thursday night.

3rd Star: David Savard
Savard played very well tonight. Sometimes an offensive spark comes from the most unlikely of places and tonight Savard was the flint to strike the cannon to trigger the boom. Watching the replay, you can see great motion from low to high in the form of Tropp => Nikitin => Savard who directs it to the high blocker corner of the net with little wind-up or wasted motion. Savard also nets a solid assist in Jenner’s deflection goal that came from a Nikitin blast from the point.

2nd Star: RJ Umberger
Um. Really? A tip-in that was going in whether he was there or not and an empty netter earn Umberger 2nd star of the game? Don’t get me wrong, Umberger had a solid game tonight but for him to be awarded the 2nd star and Corey Tropp not be awarded any seems like further evidence of the star-pickers reading the box scores to make their picks and not actually watching the game. For more information on Corey Tropp’s performance tonight, scroll down to tonight’s Stud of the game.

1st Star: Ryan Johanson
Sorry to go all homer here but Blue Jackets fans are being absolutely treated with the chance to watch Ryan Johanson’s emergence as a bonafide number one center in the NHL. His play tonight was more of the same mature play that we’ve had the pleasure of seeing as of late. His scoring is coming as the result of him leveraging his size, speed and situational awareness and closing the deal with deadly-accurate shooting. He’s quickly becoming worth the price of admission alone.

Game In One Picture

Stud: Corey Tropp
Sweet merciful crap Tropp had a great game tonight. While officially only credited with two assists, if there were justice in this world he’d also get an A on Jenner’s goal. His relentless forecheck sets up this entire scoring opportunity. That same forecheck is what frees up the puck from behind the net to Nikitin on Savard’s goal. His neutral zone pass to break out Joey was an absolute beauty as well. In Coach Richards’ post-game presser, Dave Maetzold made mention of a player saying that if the checkers check and the shooters shoot, the Jackets will win. Tropp’s performance tonight is a shining example of how buy-in to that philosophy will result in the team picking up points in the standings. It’s hard to believe after a night like tonight that a team as desperate and hapless as the Buffalo Sabres couldn’t find a place for a guy like this in their lineup.

Dud: Injuries
Marion Gaborik, we barely knew ye. I hate to sound crass because I do feel very bad for Gaborik the person but any attempt move him prior to the trade deadline just became much more difficult. Anyone think this guy would accept a 1 year deal from us? No word yet on the extent of Matt Calvert’s injury, fingers crossed it’s nothing serious as he’s one of the core of the team that you can count to bring it hard every shift.

All things said, tonight was a great response to the epic meltdown on Thursday night in Philly. The win effectively negates the 2 points we gave the Flyers which is huge going into a stretch of facing yet more Metropolitan opponents for that coveted 3rd playoff spot. Barring significant shakeups in the Atlantic, that 3rd spot will be the last Metro team to get into the dance.