The Jackets pulled off a thrilling comeback 4-3 shootout victory over the visiting New York Islanders tonight. Sergei Bobrovsky was shakier than usual, and the Jackets came out slow in all three periods, but a furious final frame and overtime helped them over come it. Down 3-1 in the third, Jack Johnson and Ryan Johansen scored to send the game to extra time. A questionable late delay of game penalty led an Islanders penalty to close out regulation. The Jackets managed to get a man advantage opportunity in overtime, but were unable to cash in. Mark Letestu and Johansen scored in the shootout, and Bobrovksy made two stops as the Jackets won their franchise record 8th straight game. It’s been a fun ride the last month, unfortunately it’s too little too late. On to the stars.
3rd Star: Brandon Dubinsky
So glad to have Dubinsky back in my life. I just love watching him play. If you just watch Dubinsky during a shift, you will see a guy always in the right spot, always moving to where he should be, always making the proper play. He’s like the reverse-Jack Johnson. Dubinsky tipped in a Dalton Prout shot in the first period to tie the game at 1, and played 19:55 of his usual solid play, even drawing the overtime powerplay.
2nd Star: Jack Johnson
He scored the goal to bring the game to 3-2. He also was running around that shift like a chicken with it’s head cut off. And he also put together one of the worst consecutive minute-plus shorthanded shifts I have ever seen. That seems hyperbolic, but generally when you do what Johnson was doing during the regulation ending penalty kill, you either get scored on or take another penalty. Johnson should have had at least four penalties that shift (including one very blatant crosscheck to the back of John Tavares). He was way too preoccupied for long stretches with whoever was on the backdoor, tying guys up who were not involved in the play, just giving the Isles a 4 on 3 for fun. He also overpursued about three times, joined his defensive partner behind the goal-line multiple times (a serious PK no no), and even threw a hit for good measure (you don’t hit on the PK). Seriously, it was terrible. Congrats on the goal though.
1st Star: Ryan Johansen
Actually deserving of a star. It’s a shame that a great season from Johansen has been wasted. He scored again tonight, bringing his season total to 26 goals, and 69 points (a career high). I would imagine those totals would be higher if the team had stayed healthy, and he could have consistently played with Nick Foligno and Scott Hartnell (who were such a magnificent line) for the entire 82 games. He also scored the shootout winner, his sixth shootout goal of the season. He did it his usual way too, which is to come in slow, lull the goalie in, and find a spot to put it. You cannot overstate how difficult it is to score like that. It gives you the advantage of time, but it also gives the goalie that same advantage. You have to be able to put the puck wherever you want, faster than the goalie can move to make that kind of approach work. You can count the people in the world who can reliably pull this off on your fingers. Watching Johansen do it multiple times a year is magnificent, and almost makes me a sad that we’ll get less shootouts next year.
Dud: Eric Boulton scored a goal
His first goal of the season. He managed two goals last year. His previous goal before last year was with the Atlanta Thrasers. He makes Jared Boll look like a sniper.
Stud: Slow starts.
Strange to put this here, as it’s clearly not a good thing if you want to win. However, I want to talk about why this is happening, and since I kind of want the team to lose, this section is somewhat fitting. It’s not always easy to come out for the start of a period. It’s easy once you get going, the adrenaline gets pumping and everything is flowing. Intermissions really cut that down. You cool down some, the adrenaline slows, and you start to notice things that weren’t bothering you. By this time of the year, everyone is playing with bumps, bruises, or real injuries of some sort. During the game, it’s easy (or easier) to set that aside. Sitting in your stall at intermission is where that hits, and it can be tough to get it back going again. Especially late in the season for a losing team. The guys aren’t going to be fired up in the room. The coach isn’t going to be too stressed about kicking the team into gear. Intermission ends, and you just go back out there. Meanwhile, the Isles are locked in, playing for playoff seeding and getting ready for a playoff run. They come out and get right back into it, and the Jackets end up down 3-0 in the first couple minutes of periods.
So fun fact about these posts. I generally start writing parts of it during the game. Usually the stud and the dud, and maybe a section on a player that I expect to be a star (or something I can move to stud or dud if they aren’t). I had completed both the stud and the dud sections during the first half of the third period. Then the Jackets come back and pull of a win, and they are totally out of place now. However, this isn’t a newpaper, and I’m not getting paid for this, so they stay. Anyway, the Jackets take the ice at Nationwide for game number 78 Saturday night against the Penguins.
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