After what I considered to be a great game against the Rangers in Columbus I was curious to see how the Jackets would respond to not being rewarded with 2 points for their efforts. They did exactly what they needed to do in Boston tonight. Not only did they play well but they played very disciplined hockey and were able to open the scoring with a gorgeous power play snipe from Johansen.
3rd Star: Tuuka Rask
Tuuka Rask had the kind of game you’ve come to expect from him. I never get tired of watching this guy play. Rask came up big man times tonight, facing a good amount of traffic from the CBJ in the form of 30 shots on goal. If you look at the three past goaltenders the Jackets have faced in Carey Price, Henrik Lundqvist and Tuuka Rask, you’re arguably looking at three of the top five net minders in the league. What a brutal stretch.
2nd Star: Curtis McElhinney
Curtis was absolutely on point tonight and was tested early and often with 35 shots on net and only one getting by and that was one that I can’t imagine any net minder would have kept out on a broken/fluke play in front of the net by Soderberg.
1st Star: Matt Calvert
I’d toss a coin for who was more valuable tonight between McElhinney or Calvert but for Calvert to bounce back from an illegal hit to the head by Soderberg to net the GWG and the icer with the empty net at the end. Both were huge.
Stud: The new guys
Morin saw more responsibility tonight with other 16 minutes on the ice and Josh Anderson stepped up as well. His game was solid with 2 takeaways and 8 hits. Neither of these two look out of place against the heavy Bruins lineup.
Dud: No call on the head shot on Calvert
The game is fast, I understand. There’s no doubt in my mind that Soderberg will have a phone call with the Department of Player Safety sometime soon but you always want to remove a player that commits that type of play from the ice immediately whenever possible.
The Jackets are off until Monday night when they’ll visit the struggling Minnesota Wild at 8pm Eastern. If they can play the same way they played against the Rangers last night and the Bruins tonight, I have a good feeling they’ll wrap up this road trip with no fewer than 4 points.
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