Today is bittersweet. Bitter, because the Blue Jackets season has come to an end. Sweet, because this injury-riddled nightmare of a Blue Jackets season has come to an end. They did it in typical fashion (as of late) by coming back to beat the playoff bound New York Islanders 5-4 in overtime Saturday night in the final game ever at Nassau Coliseum. Curtis McElhinney got the start, making 48 saves in regulation and overtime, and three more times in the shootout. Cam Atkinson, Brandon Dubinsky, Alexander Wennberg, and Scott Hartnell scored for the Blue Jackets, while Wennberg and Atkinson scored the markers in the shootout to bring home the win.
3rd Star: Brandon Dubinsky
Dubi is the best. Just the best.
Dubinsky lost four bottom teeth, needed stitches inside and outside of his bottom lip. Asked why (the hell) he took off his gloves later?
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) April 12, 2015
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Dubinsky: “Hey, man. It’s a fighting game.” — Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) April 12, 2015
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It’s one thing for Dubinsky to play the way he does. He has no elite skills, nor anything you would probably describe as above average. He just has great hockey sense, works harder than pretty much everyone, and always makes the right play. That would be enough for me to love the guy, but he’s also tough as a sack of nails. Loses four teeth (making ten lost for his career), comes back, scores, and fights. Just the best.
2nd Star: John Tavares
Two points, and still managed to get leapfrogged by Jamie Benn in the race for the Art Ross Trophy for the NHL’s leading scorer. He didn’t win it this year, but I would be pretty surprised if he never managed to win one. Or maybe he’s just one of those guys who manages to never be the best guy in the league, overlapped at the start of his career by prime-Crosby, and the latter portions of his career by prime-McDavid.
1st Star: Scott Hartnell
Like everyone else, I loved the Hartnell trade at the time it was made. RJ Umberger had been a shell for a couple years, the short term dollar difference was negligible, and the contract term distance was very far in the future. All Hartnell needed to do this year to satisfy me was to outplay Umberger. Well he did that, and then some. He didn’t just outplay Umberger this season, he outplayed any single season Umberger ever had in Columbus. 28 goals, 60 points, helped the powerplay be awesome, and he’s just a fun guy to have around.
Dud: Eric Boulton scored a goal
His second goal of the season. He managed two goals last year. The previous goal before last year was with the Atlanta Thrasers. He makes Jared Boll look like a sniper.
Stud:
#CBJ Boone Jenner and Brandon Dubinsky only dressed in the same game 13 times this season. CBJ was 11-0-2 in those game.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) April 12, 2015
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The Jackets have been injured a lot this year. I tend to watch the opposing teams feeds for games, especially later in the year, just to get some variety and hear opinions on this team around the league. Every single broadcast mentions the injuries, puts up a man games lost graphic, and discusses how good the team could have been if they were healthy. Well for the most part. The homer Pens broadcast tried to say the Penguins injuries were worse because who is injured is more important than having a lot of injuries. That is correct (and nicely sums up the problems with the Pens emphasis on a couple of players at the expense of any sort of depth). However, the Pens broadcasters didn’t realize they were in fact making a better case for the Jackets. We know Sergei Bobrovsky missing significant time was huge. A lot has been made of Ryan Murray‘s injuries, and long term that is by FAR the most troubling set of injuries. A lot less has been made of Dubinsky and Boone Jenner being out as much as they have. That embedded tweet from Portzline tells a big story. More than any other players, those two guys are the ones that set the tone. They both need to be the hardest working players on the ice at all times. I don’t want to know what would happen if they spent a lot of time out there together. I think they would both just keep trying to outwork the other until they exploded. They also do things the right way. No corners are cut by those two. They are also primary components of the Jackets depth. They rarely play together, and they rarely play top line minutes. So when both of them are in the lineup, that means the Jackets have three lines that are either uber-dangerous offensively, or able to grind you into dust and maybe chip in a goal or two. That is the Jackets recipe. Having neither or only one of those players means the recipe is missing vital ingredients.
This is the part where I usually discuss where the Jackets are in the standings, how important the game was, and when they take the ice yet. Well, the game was basically irrelevant in the standings (although it cost the Isles home ice in the first round), the Jackets won’t play again until the fall, and they finish in the 23rd spot overall. This means they will pick 1st, 8th or 9th in June’s draft, pending the lottery outcome. It remains to be seen whether this latest stretch of outstanding play was a harbinger of the future, or just a team out of the running playing loose. I don’t think it is either. The Jackets have been the best team in hockey the last month and a half. They are not the best team in hockey. I also don’t think it is meaningless. This is a team that can compete with any team in hockey on any given night (when healthy). If they can stay healthy next year, or even just healthier, they should be shoo-ins for the playoffs, and in the fight for home ice advantage in the first round. There are major questions facing this team’s future (particularly on defense), but there is enough here and on the way to have everyone feeling pretty good about the future. Now let’s just cross our fingers for a lottery win.
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