One of the most exciting first periods of the Jackets season led to a far less exciting (and bordering on uneventful) remainder of the game, and a 5-2 Jackets win over the Blackhawks in Chicago last night. During the first, the Jackets and Hawks combined for six goals (only an empty netter coming later), and 28 shots (of 60 total for the game). There were as many goals in the first period as there were noteworthy shots on goaltenders in the third (per the NHL’s little dashes on GameCenterLive). Anyway, despite the semi-lopsided looking score, the Blackhawks outshot the Jackets 33-27, and outshot-attempted them 58-39. This was primarily the result of a 5-1 powerplay advantage for the Hawks, but the Jackets’ much maligned penalty kill held strong. Sergei Bobrovsky was his usual wonderful self in making 31 saves in the win.
3rd Star: Johnny Oduya
He had two assists. Okay.
2nd Star: Cody Goloubef
Goloubef is a perfectly fine hockey player. I am not certain he’s a top six guy on a good team (when healthy), but he doesn’t really seem to be destined for that kind of role in Columbus anyway. He’s quietly over doubled his career games played this season, putting up six assists and a +8 rating in 28 games played. He picked up two assists last night for his second multi-point game of the season. Which is pretty crazy, considering he only has points in five games in his entire career.
1st Star: Cam Atkinson
Cam added the emtpy-netter to give himself the hat trick last night. He’s pretty quietly put together a nice little season. He’s one of the most consistent players around oddly, putting up about the exact same rate of goals, assists, shots, points, and shooting percentage year after year. Over 82 games with Cam you are getting 21-22 goals, 20-21 assists, 41-43 points, 200-225 shots on goal, and a shooting percentage around 9.9% (he’s at 9.8% this year, preceded by 9.7% and 9.9%). He’s in those ranges every year of his career, and done it without premier linemates or ice time. Really glad they were able to lock him down.
Dud: Rising in the Standings
This is the downside for a team that doesn’t actually suck being low in the standings late in the year. The actually crappy teams keep on playing crappy, because they are. The Jackets keep getting healthier, Bob is awesome, and they keep on winning games. There was a point not that long ago where catching Carolina for fourth last was in play. Based on recent play and where they are now, they will be lucky to finish seventh last, and could very well end up eighth. That doesn’t sound like a huge difference, and winning games now is fun, but the difference between the fourth and eighth selections can be massive. That’s the difference between Nicklas Backstrom and Peter Mueller. Ryan Johansen and Alex Burmistrov. Evander Kane and Scott Glennie. Andrew Ladd and Alexandre Picard (but hey, at least we got Kyle Wharton!). Over the ten drafts from 2003 through 2012 (to give players some time to play in the NHL), the 4th pick has picked up 775 goals, and 1352 assists in 3461 games, while the 8th pick has gone for 362 and 569 in 2359 games. This is even more impressive when you add in that four of those ten 4th overall picks were defensemen, to only two 8th picks. Those numbers equate to a 50 points player at the 4th pick, and a 30 point player at the 8th pick. Obviously it varies, and there are busts in there on both picks, as well as defensemen. But it is a huge difference. The 4th picks had over 2000 points, about in the middle of Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier’s career point totals (the number one and two players all time). The 8th pick put up a total of 931 points. Nothing to sneeze at, but the closest NHL player to that total is Steve Thomas. A few years ago I did a large draft analysis (something I should revisit with updated stats) that broke down the actual value provided by each pick. I found the drop from the 1st overall pick was stark. Looking back at it now, the 4th overall pick is worth the 8th overall pick plus the 13th overall pick.
Stud: Fans
Two meanings for this one. First, huge commendations for all the CBJ fans sticking it out on this season. It would be very tempting to maybe go out for a nice dinner and a couple bottles of wine with some friends, then attempt to catch up on the game later when you get home, maybe then fall asleep on the couch, and then have to watch it again in the morning to be able to write intelligently about it. The second meeting is for the Chicago fans. I didn’t really grow up in a “sports fan” environment. I grew up playing sports, and taking the game pretty seriously. So the blind faith, cheer anything my team does, boo anything against my team, type fan behavior is foreign to me. I get it, and if that is how you want to be a fan, more power to you. Do what you want. But the Hawks fans showed a great example of the hilarity that can be found from this on occasion. At the start of the third period, Bobrovsky slid out of the net, but pinned the puck against the side of the net. Meanwhile, Jackets and Hawks players piled up in the crease. One of the players at the very bottom of the pile was Andrew Shaw. After the whistle had (rightfully) already been blown, Shaw gloved the puck into the net and then celebrated. The refs looked it over quickly, while the Chicago announcers (I had the away broadcast playing) quickly realized this was not a goal for at least two reasons. However, you can audibly hear the Chicago fans react to the replay being played, clearly thinking for some reason it should count. The refs then confirm the ‘no goal’ call, and are showered with boos. You can’t get any less of a goal than throwing the puck in the net with your hand after the play has ended.Yet the fans booed anyway. Classic.
The Jackets currently sit in 24th place, tied with New Jersey in points (who they play on Tuesday), and two points behind the Flyers (who have a game in hand). They take the ice again tonight in St. Louis to take on Ken Hitchcock and the Blues.
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