The Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Arizona Coyotes 4-1 tonight, completing the series sweep. It was something of an ugly game, that never really seemed in doubt, despite being close on the scoreboard for most of the contest. The Jackets were led by Sam Gagner (2G, 2A), Cam Atkinson (2A), and goals from Nick Foligno and Zach Werenski. Sergei Bobrovksy only needed to make 17 saves to move into a tie for the league lead in wins with 14, and help the Blue Jackets to their 500th win of all time.
The Good: The Powerplay
The Jackets continue to roll with the man advantage. Two more powerplay goals tonight, giving them 17 on the season. The CBJ are the top spot in the league at 24.6% on the year. At some point it seems the Jackets will come back down, but they seem to be doing it gradually, not with a huge slump pulling them all the way down at once. I don’t see the Jackets slowing up too much, as the addition of Zach Werenski in addition to all the weapons that Jackets already have gives them so many different ways they can beat you. They have some nice shooters off the half-wall, multiple good point shots, some of the best net front guys in the league, and some top notch playmakers. It’s a great mix of players that can roll two dangerous units out there, and switch up the groups if need be.
The nicest PP goal of tonight came courtesy of Nick Foligno, finishing off the pretty passing play from Sam Gagner and Cam Atkinson.
[protected-iframe id=”c9ea1f0adcc19ba7a559943a74ecd353-114320562-108054817″ info=”https://www.nhl.com/video/embed/foligno-slides-in-power-play-goal/t-283200888/c-47040903?autostart=false” width=”540″ height=”360″]The Sad: The Current Coyotes
I like to switch things up from time to time for reasons, and listen to the opposing team’s broadcast. Listening to the Coyotes team was….tough. They have a lot of talented youngsters, and their future is bright but this incarnation of the team is just not very good. The Arizona broadcast crew of Tyson Nash and Matt McConnell struggled to find positive things to say about their team, often resorting to complimenting the younger players or some nice, but mostly irrelevant plays. The most common recipient of this was Brendan Perlini, making his NHL debut. He received compliments for good backside pressure on a backcheck, keeping his stick on the ice while going to the net, and even got credit for a future shot on goal because a play he made led to an offensive zone faceoff. There were so many bland Perlini compliments, I actually cut three others I wrote down because that sentence was getting too long.
The Ugly: This Game
It was not a pretty game by any means, with the CBJ looking a little out of sorts, especially with the puck. However, the Coyotes are not much of an NHL team at this point, and the talent and speed of the Jackets were just far too much for them to handle. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to see the Jackets pull this kind of game out. They fought the puck a little bit, but still managed to dominate the game in every facet, finishing with a 34-18 margin in shots on goal, a 69-35 margin in shot attempts, and the 4-1 final score. Additionally, nearly every CBJ player finished the game with a positive Corsi For, with only Seth Jones (?!) and Lukas Sedlak in the red. It’s a great result for the team, even if it wasn’t the prettiest hockey to watch.
Quote of the Game: John Tortorella on the adjustments made to the Power Play by assistant coach Brad Larsen:
“There’s no secrets (in the league), we have feasted on low plays, and we made a lot of nice plays into the slot. We were trying to jam plays in there, I thought they opened it up, played the top half of the ice first. Then other things will open up. That was good. Kept us in the game.”
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