With the Columbus Blue Jackets season over it’s a useful exercise to compare how they did against each team in the NHL. This series (CBJ vs The World) will be evaluating the series the Blue Jackets played against each team in the NHL this season starting at the bottom of the standings and moving up. To see each piece in this series please click here.
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The first team up is the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres had a season that was truly unique in that while the players and coaches competed as hard as they could it seemed the management and ownership were set on losing to increase the odds of the franchise landing top prospect Conner McDavid. In the draft lottery the Buffalo Sabres received the second pick and also finished second in getting Mike Babcock as their new head coach. This is a team that has good young pieces and will be good into the future.
Season Results:
CBJ 3 @ Buffalo 1 10/9/14
Buffalo 4 @ CBJ 2 2/24/15
Buffalo 2 @ CBJ 4 4/10/15
The Columbus Blue Jackets three games against the Buffalo Sabres illustrate their season over three games. The first games was the Blue Jacket’s first of the year and the CBJ showed up in great form. Cam Atkinson scored the game winning goal and Sergei Bobrovsky opened the season with an impressive .955 save percentage. The second game happened in February and illustrated the issues problems created for the franchise by all of the injuries. The lowlight of that game was the performance by Anton Forsberg who allowed four goals and struggled along with a .871 save percentage. The final game came when the Columbus Blue Jacket’s were playing their best. It was the home finale and a frustrated team wanted to make the home crowd proud. They dominated the game from beginning to end while pushing for a twelfth straight game earning a point.
As long as the Columbus Blue Jacket’s stay healthy expect next season’s series to be similar to this season’s but without the let down in the middle. From top to bottom the Blue Jackets have a better roster than the Sabres. If they play another three games next season it would be disappointing for the Blue Jackets to not get at least four points from their battles and realistic for them to earn six.