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Columbus Blue Jackets Third in Metro After First Week of Play

By Preston Byers

RALEIGH, NC - OCTOBER 10: The Columbus Blue Jackets celebrate their 2-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes following an overtime goal by Sonny Milano during of an NHL game on October 10, 2017 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC - OCTOBER 10: The Columbus Blue Jackets celebrate their 2-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes following an overtime goal by Sonny Milano during of an NHL game on October 10, 2017 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The Columbus Blue Jackets left Raleigh, North Carolina on Tuesday night with a 2-1 overtime victory, snagging another two points in the always tough Metro Division. The win pushed the CBJ to four points in three games while the Hurricanes finished the night with three through two games.

With their first two wins of the season coming against Metro Division foes, the Columbus Blue Jackets have to be feeling pretty confident. After blowing out the New York Islanders in the season opener and squeaking out a OT win against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Blue Jackets have four points on the season.

This is good enough for third out of the eight Metro teams currently. Although it’s extremely early in the season–we’re only about four percent through the year–the Blue Jackets did end up finishing third in the Metro last season.

Reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners, the Washington Capitals, sit atop the Metro with five points in three games. Alex Ovechkin led the way in the Caps’ first two games, scoring hat tricks in both contests. He didn’t score at all against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday and they lost in overtime. For shame.

The New Jersey Devils sit in second with a 2-0-0 record to start the new season. Although they have just played the Colorado Avalanche and the Buffalo Sabres, the team has gotten a great scoring punch from 19-year-old Jesper Bratt, who has recorded three goals and two assists in his first two career NHL games. New Jersey’s next test will be a little tougher than the Avs or Sabres as they travel to Toronto to take on the undefeated Maple Leafs tonight.

Sitting behind Columbus in the Metro are the Flyers, Hurricanes, Islanders, Penguins and Rangers, in that order. The Penguins and Rangers at the bottom is a major surprise. Obviously the Penguins are two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, so they should be higher. They are 1-1-1 through the first three, including their embarrassing 10-1 loss to the Blackhawks on Oct. 5.

The Rangers have just been destroyed to start their season. Other than a 2-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens, the team has not been able to stop pucks from flying in their net. The best example of this was allowing eight goals to Toronto in the club’s second game of the season.

Metro Matchups This Week

With hockey season in full swing, so are the Metro showdowns. There are six divisional games this week, one including the Blue Jackets. The Capitals have three Metro games by themselves, starting with a Eastern Conference semifinals rematch against the Penguins tonight. All times below are in Eastern Time.

  • Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Washington Capitals (10/11 – 7:30 PM)
  • New York Rangers vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (10/13 – 7 PM)
  • Washington Capitals vs. New Jersey Devils (10/13 – 7 PM)
  • New Jersey Devils vs. New York Rangers (10/14 – 7 PM)
  • Washington Capitals vs. Philadelphia Flyers (10/14 – 7 PM)
  • Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New York Rangers (10/17 – 7 PM)

Next: Do you know all the CBJ player nicknames?

The Metro may end up not looking much different than it did after last season, but for now, we have some new blood in the Devils, the Flyers are looking good behind Wayne Simmonds‘ superb play and playoff teams like the Pens and Rangers look a little bit slower than we’re used to.

Our Columbus Blue Jackets must take advantage of other teams’ mistakes early on because if their opponents start picking it up later in the year, we’ll want all the points we can get before then.

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