Jackets Forming an Identity
The Blue Jackets won their second game in a row Thursday night – a 5-3 victory over the Nashville Predators. In the end it was a full team effort that brought forth an exciting comeback, but the first 40 minutes of the game were hard to watch. The identity of this team seems to be coming together; but is it sustainable?
For the third game in a row, the team started the game late. Finding themselves down 2-0 after the first period, then 3-1 after the second, it seemed like they were well out of it. In fact, our article yesterday about their history against Nashville seemed to be playing out in front of our eyes again.
The Predators weren’t necessarily playing all that much better – in fact the Jackets held shot advantages through each period. They were just finding ways to capitalize. They got to the hard areas and competed, and took advantage of their chances. The Jackets, while the energy was there, again looked like they lacked direction at both ends of the ice.
But eventually, persistence paid off. Johnny Gaudreau took a terrific feed from Nick Blankenburg and kicked off the comeback with a nifty breakaway goal. Justin Danforth walked around a Nashville defender and showed off soft hands, chipping a goal in behind Nashville goalie Kevin Lankinen. The game was tied with just under 8 minutes left.
Johnny Gaudreau #⃣1⃣3⃣
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 21, 2022
resident Taylor Swift conspiracy theorist pic.twitter.com/Q91RBCleMo
Then came a Nashville push. We’ve all seen this story before: Jackets play their butts off to get back into a game, only to see it squandered away in the final minutes. But on this night, that wasn’t the case. Elvis made a couple of big stops, particularly in this sequence here:
ELVIS WITH A CLUTCH SAVE pic.twitter.com/b4M5n300Cx
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 21, 2022
Then, the Jackets had a shift in the offensive zone and made things happen. Blankenburg gets the goal, but what a feed this is from Voracek. It brought me out of my seat, even before the puck was shot. The entire play is a team effort, from the forecheck that forces a bad pass, to Roslovic keeping the puck in. Johnson and Blankenburg switching off so Nick can jump into the play. The timing is perfect, right down to Voracek making one extra move to buy himself time to make the pass.
cheesin for the BlankenBOOM 😁😁 pic.twitter.com/AqYBbwbO0s
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 21, 2022
In the end, after a Gaudreau empty netter, the Jackets take home a 5-3 victory that really doesn’t look all that close if you look at the underlying numbers. They outshot the Predators 42-26; out-attempted them 78-56, and even out-hit them 28-15. While they were down 3-1 after 40 minutes, it’s not all that surprising to see a comeback win here.
They can rally around these smaller, skilled players, and feed off of their energy…
We’ve been waiting for this team to find energy for much of the early part of this season, and they seem to have found it on the backs of the little guys. We all expected Johnny Gaudreau to be a difference maker for this team, and he certainly has been.
But what we didn’t necessarily expect, are contributions from two other players of smaller stature: Justin Danforth and Nick Blankenburg. These were the three stars of the game last night. Average size? 5-9, 177 pounds.
#3 star: Danforth, who just continues to prove everyone wrong. Just a few years ago, this guy was starring in the ECHL(!); he’s played hockey all over the world but has finally established himself as an NHL guy at 29 years old. He plays whatever role the team needs him to play, in all situations, and he owns it. This guy belongs here:
Danforth's in his rep era😤 pic.twitter.com/cz7VtGaqYF
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 21, 2022
#2 star: Gaudreau, who ends up with two goals and finds himself on a better than point-per-game pace. He’s every bit the star we thought we were getting, and then some … he’s only had Patrik Laine on his wing for a period and a half. That he’s remained so effective while on a line with Boone Jenner and Gustav Nyquist, is incredible. Not taking anything away from those players, they just aren’t top line guys.
The #1 star of the game? College free agent and 24 year old NHL rookie Nick Blankenburg. After earning the kepi on Tuesday night in his first game of the season, his follow-up performance was somehow even better. He scores the game winning goal and adds an assist on a homerun pass to Gaudreau, that sparked the comeback early in the third.
There is still a lot for this team to figure out; probably most important right now being their slow starts. Defensively, they are still all over the place – but that has improved over the last couple of games. Goaltending continues to be hit or miss (mostly miss), but Elvis does come up with some timely saves last night.
Tthe identity is forming for this team. They can rally around these smaller, skilled players, and feed off of their energy. This isn’t a team that can be pushed around anymore either – there are guys here who can protect them (though admittedly, we’re still waiting for that to come to fruition…).
The schedule doesn’t get any easier over the next few days. They’ll face Pittsburgh tomorrow night at Nationwide, before traveling to New York to face the Rangers. If they can work out how to defend, get more consistency from their own goaltenders, and show up on time; they are a dangerous group and should be able to keep pace in these games.
Looking further out, they’re going to be adding one of the top goal scorers in the world in the next couple of weeks, which should make things a little easier. At least it will move everyone up front back into roles that should better suit their skillsets. It’s nice to see this group beginning to gel, hopefully they can keep it up.
Want your voice heard? Join the Union And Blue team!