Columbus Blue Jackets Weather the Hurricanes
It wasn’t clear which team was going to show up to play in Columbus on Tuesday night but it turns out that the right Columbus Blue Jackets came home. With Sergei Bobrovsky taking a rare night off and Joonas Korpisalo in net we needed the entire team to show up for a full 60 minute game.
After taking a hard loss it would have been easy for the Columbus Blue Jackets to fall into their funk and just coast into another loss blamed on the back to back. Instead the team we all deserve showed up, with a newly returned Alexander Wenneberg playing center on the third line.
Wenneberg immediately made his return noticed by passing to Zach Werenski in open ice to bury a goal, making the score 2-1 in the second. The team wasn’t able to hold onto that lead as Brock McGinn got one past Korpisalo half way into the third. The teams weren’t able to beat the goalies for the remaining time so we got to see, yet another, overtime at Nationwide Arena.
Next: Columbus Blue Jackets on top of the Metro!!!
Any time that we head into an overtime is really when I can just relax because I feel completely at ease that we will win the skill game of three on three. The Columbus Blue Jackets proved that comfort as they came out and got five solid shots to the Carolina Hurricanes two in the five minutes of play. Since those seven shots couldn’t beat either goalie we headed to a shootout where Cam Atkinson and Artemi Panarin made easy work of Darling and Korpisalo stood tall against all shooters.
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There was one theme that I noticed during the game that I think is starting to be a trend. I think that we all are on the same page with the Power Play right now (8.82% on a league average of 19.75% isn’t even upsetting anymore, it is disgusting). It appears to me that the last few games the players from the opposing team are playing a more loose game than they would against a better power play team. They are taking hits that could go either way and tangling up with players to stop rushes that could result in a goal or a power play.
This type of play is going to get our players hurt and I think that it showed last night. Zach Werenski went down in the first due to getting tangled with Josh Jooris. Josh Anderson went down after getting tangled up with the stick of Jaccob Slavin. Would these types of plays have happened if our power play was firing at 19% or would the play be more conservative to prevent man advantages?
I am not saying that either play was dirty or that players are trying to hurt us on purpose. I think that it is a mentality that you can play a little bit more of old style hockey against us because a 2 minute penalty means nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Next: Another Instance of the Power Play Failing Us
It is time that something is done about the play not only due to the embarrassing nature but also to keep our players safe and give the rules the full emphasis that they were created for.