New York Islanders @ Columbus Blue Jackets
Sunday, April 5th, 6:00PM (Eastern)
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
| Islanders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Blue Jackets | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
Two weeks ago the Columbus Blue Jackets faced this Islanders team, and walked away embarrassed, tails between their legs. One had to wonder how the Blue Jackets would react after Friday’s gut wrenching loss on home ice to the Blackhawks, with a little over 3 seconds remaining in the game. We only needed a short time to see how they would react, it was with goals, and goals aplenty. They were the dominant team much of the night, with a smoking hot power play, and a Sergei Bobrovsky that was on his game.
The Blue Jackets scored two goals in the first period, both on the power play, the first just 4:26 into the game. Boone Jenner and Jack Johnson were the goal contributors in the first, and the overall attitude of the team was that of forgetfulness, as in they completely forgot about Friday night and they weren’t going to let it affect tonight’s performance.
the Second period was more of the first, 2 goals scored however only one on the power play this time. Mark Letestu and Ryan Murray tallied the goals in the second, and Bob stood tall when he had to and the Columbus Blue Jackets led 4-0 after two periods.
Columbus spent the third period more or less running out the clock, they still took their chances, but made sure the lead was going to stick. Matt Calvert decided to drop gloves with Matt Carkner, after Carkner took a swing or two at Calvert’s head. After Carkner (6’5″ 234lbs.) more or less shoved Calvert (5’11” 187lbs.) around for 30 seconds the fight was stopped. Jared Boll did not take kindly to that, so he decided to show Carkner how he felt about it, Carkner still had 20lbs. on Boll but Boll held his own and more importantly showed our enforcer is back.
The Blue Jackets ended the game going 3-6 on the power play, and Bob got his 5th shutout of the season stopping all 31 shots he faced. The Blue Jackets picked up a big 2 points, and showed they will not fold down the stretch of this playoff run, the next four games are going to be fun. With a playoff spot on the line, this team is going to show us what it has, and I for one can’t wait to see what they got!
My 3 Stars:
- Boone Jenner: Opened the scoring and flood gates on this game, showed poise for a rookie, had 1 G and 1 A.
- Sergei Bobrovsky: Stopped every shot thrown his way for his 5th shutout this season, easily could have been 1st star.
- Mark Letestu: Had 1 G and 1 A, and I will really enjoy seeing his game in the playoffs, if we can find a way in.