So the Blue Jackets beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 tonight in Columbus. The early January regular season game between perennial bottom feeders would normally be a snoozer, but we are not living in normal times. The game was the CBJ’s 16th victory in a row, moving them to 27-5-4 on the season, and increasing their league lead over Pittsburgh to three points (with two games in hand!).
Their goal differential on the season is now +52, or double Pittsburgh’s. As for the game itself, the Jackets opened the scoring on a Cam Atkinson marker that caromed off Kris Russell and Andrej Sekera before entering the net. Oscar Klefbom tied it up for the Oil ever so briefly before Brandon Saad found the highway through the middle of the Edmonton box, hitting Billy Boy Karlsson for the one-timer goal. Nick Foligno was gifted the insurance marker by Benoit Pouliot. Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 stops in the win, including a couple key ones late to seal the deal.
Great: Active Defensemen
A lot of words have been said about this Blue Jackets team, what has changed, why are they better, blah, blah, and more blah. A big reason is how active the defensemen have been playing this season. With the horses the CBJ have on the back-end, it makes sense to give them the freedom to use their legs whenever they can. This led to a fun play early in the game where a 2 on 2 rush featured Seth Jones and Zach Werenski and ended in a Jones shot on net. The most fun part of this is that it wasn’t surprising. Not that this is a regular thing, but with the way the Jackets defensemen activate on the breakout, it was bound to happen sooner or later. The confidence that John Tortorella is showing in his defense to make good judgments, and his forwards to play sound positionally behind them when they do make this kind of call, is really great to see and creating some fun hockey to watch. Oh yeah, it’s also helping them win, which is neat.
Greater: Best on Best
Seth Jones spent a lot of this game on the ice with Connor McDavid. Jones is a really good defenseman, but Connor McDavid is among the best offensive players in the entire league. Maybe even the best. Tonight however, he did piddly squat. No points, just three shots on goal, a -6 Corsi For at even strength, and one embarrassing shutdown by Seth Jones, with Jones promptly sending the CBJ on the attack.
Seth Jones takes a penalty against Connor McDavid, Jackets going to the PK. Earlier in the third, Jones won the initial battle. Sort of. pic.twitter.com/5Fp9LWGgPy
— Buckeye State Hockey (@BuckeyeStHockey) January 4, 2017
McDavid managed to draw a fairly soft penalty on Jones a little bit later, but the Oilers were unable to capitalize. Jones clearly got the better of this battle, and that is something Jones is going to have to do against McDavid caliber players if the Jackets hope to make a deep playoff run. Glad to see he is up to the task in a big game.
Greatest: SIXTEEN!!!
Only the second team ever to win sixteen straight games. As @jrimercbj said "More hugs needed!" What a season for the Blue Jackets. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/h5xvaCXDyI
— Buckeye State Hockey (@BuckeyeStHockey) January 4, 2017
Is there anything I even need to add?
Quote of the Night: John Tortorella
“I’m proud of the team. I’m really happy how they’ve handled these past three games, with all the talk. It’s a good test for them. I’m not too interested in all being talked about, but they care about it, and it puts them in a spot to push themselves through, and play with that kind of pressure right now in January.”
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