Columbus Blue Jackets: The Comeback Kids
There are not a lot of games this season that I can say the Columbus Blue Jackets absolutely wowed me. One game that did wow me was Monday nights game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
At the 15 minute mark in the third period Toronto held a 2-0 lead over the Columbus Blue Jackets Jackets. With less than five minutes left in the game, Jordan Schroeder took a shot with Nick Foligno and Boone Jenner crashing the net. The puck took one of the weirdest bounces that I have ever seen , shot about 15 feet into the air, bounced back to the ice, hit the goalie, and went into the net.
The NHL is going back and forth on who actually got the goal but regardless of what they say that was a Schroeder goal. This was his first point with the Columbus Blue Jackets since he joined the team at the start of the season and it was one that I knew was coming.
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Schroeder hasn’t seen much play until recently but the injuries to the team have allowed him to find a spot. Over the last three games we have seen Schroeder building confidence and there goal was somewhere on the horizon. It could not have come at a better time.
The Schroeder/Foligno goal brought the team back within one goal with less than five minutes left. All the Columbus Blue Jackets needed was to score again in under five minutes when it took them 55 minutes to score the first goal. That should be easy.
Just 1:48 later Seth Jones comes flying up the ice with Pierre-Luc Dubious skating alongside him. Jones throws it across the ice and PLD buries it in the net behind Frederik Andersen. The Jackets had somehow come back to tie up the game at 2-2 and take it to overtime.
One thing that I have said all season is that I am never more confident in the Blue Jackets than when we head to three on three overtime. The Blue Jackets have gone into overtime to determine a game 14 times out of the 44 games this season. For those of you that hate math that is almost 32% of their games, or 1/3. Of those 14 games that went to overtime, they have won 11 of them. In overtime, 78% of the time we win every time. That is a stat that I can get behind.
This game would be no different than the other 11 times as the Jackets controlled the overtime. The Columbus Blue Jackets would take home this amazing comeback win with a sexy pass from Zach Werenski to Artemi Panarin behind the netminder. Panarin swatted the puck in and disappointed Toronto fans started leaving the building. You don’t get to see comebacks like that very often so it was pretty amazing to watch our beloved team be on the right end of one.
I am going to be honest here. When Schroeder scored that goal with five minutes left I was on my way to the TV to turn it off and head to bed. After watching 55 minutes of mediocre play, I was done with it. It was more of the same out of the Jackets and I was tired. One, because of bad play on the ice and because it was past my bedtime. I was two steps away from missing this amazing comeback.
Next: Another take on the remarkable win
Let this be a word to the wise: Never leave a hockey game early. Anything can happen and you could witness the first comeback from a two goal deficit this season. You could also turn it off in disgust and miss it all. Never take that chance. I know that I won’t.