The Blue Jackets were certifiably on fire heading in to Detroit last night, winning 6 straight and looking like they could somehow, magically, be getting their season turned around. After a grueling 65 minutes of hockey the Blue Jackets willed their way to a seventh straight win against a team we love to hate and more importantly: in a barn they’ve struggled in. Compared to the fire-wagon nature of the Pittsburgh game, this defense-heavy tilt was a fresh kind of suspense that we hadn’t seen the CBJ do well at this season.
3rd Star: Boone Jenner
Boone is turning into quite the legend on the penalty shot, isn’t he? While he wasn’t able to score any points during play, once again Jenner has his hand in a pivotal moment a game. With just under 22 minutes of ice time it’s easy to see why his injury left such a big hole in the Union Blue’s lineup.
2nd Star: Jimmy Howard
Tonight was a showdown of two goalies just absolutely on top of it all game. Howard was peppered for 29 shots against and a good number of those were decent scoring chances. Hat tip to him, because as much as the Wings fan I talk to every day about him you’d think he would have let in 5 with the chances the Blue Jackets were getting.
1st Star: The Man. The Myth. The Legend. Sergei “Top Cop” Bobrovsky
Boy was Sergei a wall tonight. The only puck to get past him was a shootout attempt by equally legendary Pavel Datsyuk. Everything else though, rock solid. Coach Richards tried some sweet talk to get his defense off the hook because they left Sergei out to dry more times than I feel comfortable with. There’s one play in particular where Sergei had to go cross-crease and made an amazing glove save, getting there so quick and making a stop so fantastic he didn’t even realize he had the puck. For every game where he lets in a dud, Sergei graces us with games like this that give you warm and fuzzy feelings. He’s our goalie, and we’re happy to have him.
Game in One Picture:
Stud: Discipline
I had the unfortunate blessing of attending these teams’ first matchup of the season at Nationwide Arena, and doubly so that it was the game I was taking a new fan to for his first ever NHL tilt. After seeing that 5-0* drumming, my friend told me that this was the kind of game he would have died to see live. He was right, as much hair pulling we did at seeing chance after chance get smothered by James Howard and the Detroit defense the back and forth between these squads was exciting. I didn’t realize it during the game since time was flying by but the Jackets played a supremely disciplined game: when was the last time Detroit had more penalties than us? Who knows if even one more penalty would have been enough to snap the Jackets’ winning streak. Phew!
Dud: Shootouts
There’s really not a whole lot to get nitpicky and mad about after this one, so I’m going to pick on shootouts. It really brings the mood down a touch winning two games over (who I would argue are) our biggest rivals in a shootout. There’s no thrill to them, just a sigh of relief. Weird, isn’t it? I won’t complain too much, though. I’d rather have 2 extra points than 0.
So there you have it. The Blue Jackets streaking continues and they prolonged it winning a game I’m not sure many of us though they could win. (A close 1-0 game, not just a game against the Wings.) It was also great to see Jeremy Morin play and be an immediate use to the team right out of the gate. He didn’t record any points but if he plays like he did last night there should be some hugs in his future.
And hey! Would you look at that! A mere 2 games under .500!
Carry the Flag!
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