Blue Jackets play hard and slay the Golden Knights in overtime

The Blue Jackets played one of their best games of the early part of the season last night, standing face to face with one of the NHL's most elite teams. They battled the Vegas Golden Knights hard and gave them all they could handle, eventually finding the winner in overtime.

It wasn't a perfect game, by any means. The Knights had their share of chances, especially in the third period as they started to take the game over. But Cam Talbot stood strong in goal, making several massive saves-including robbing Jack Eichel in the final minutes.

To even get to that point, the Jackets had to play a nearly perfect game. Vegas is a team that can set the pace of play to whatever level they want, and they showed us that last night.

But the Jackets didn't shy away from their game plan. They stuck to doing the things the had to do, which meant smart plays with the puck; and reliability without it. I thought all four lines contributed something, which hasn't happened much this year.

While playing patiently, they found the game's first goal thanks to a lucky bounce on a Vegas clearing attempt. The puck hits the opening where the photographer sets his camera in the corner, bouncing out to Valeri Nichushkin.

He turns back and finds Kent Johnson, who was in perfect position to see the entire offensive zone. KJ dishes to Denton Mateychuk, who makes a silky play to his backhand and opens the scoring with a very nice finish.

They joy was somewhat short-lived, however. The Golden Knights scored just over 6 minutes later, with Tomas Hertl converting a rebound chance off of the rush. That would cap all of the scoring in regulation, as the two teams went scoreless for the next 43 minutes.

The Jackets started overtime with their two most reliable centers, Sean Monahan and Charlie Coyle, both on the ice. After winning the faceoff, the team quickly swapped Monahan out for Matthew Knies, and threw him a stretch pass that drew a penalty to Shea Theodore.

After going 22 straight opportunities without a power-play goal, the Blue Jackets finally cashed in when it mattered most. Though, of note, this was on a 4 on 3 man advantage, not a 5 on 4. Maybe that's the key?

Again, Kent Johnson makes this whole play happen. He gains the blue line and draws in two Vegas penalty killers, before reversing the puck behind his back and through the legs of Jack Eichel, finding Coyle. He feeds Adam Fantilli, who makes no mistake, one-timing home the game-winner.

Three good things...

There were a lot of good takeaways from last night's game, but I narrowed it down to three. At the very top of my list is Kent Johnson, who was the best player on the ice for either team, in my opinion. Not just because of the two points. He was a hound on the puck, and was not afraid to hold onto it and make plays when he won it.

We also have to shout out the game's first star. Cam Talbot made 26 saves in this one, with the only goal against coming off of a rebound where he had just bailed out the team on the rush. The Jackets won't get this kind of goaltending every night, but man, it sure helps when they do. He stole two points for them last night.

Finally, and most importantly: they never let the momentum swings take this game over. Good or bad, they just stuck to their system and played smart hockey. More than the goaltending, this is what we should be watching and hoping for as they move forward.

One bad thing...

Once again, Rick Bowness chooses Carson Soucy over Emil Andrae. And once again, it costs this team a goal. He tries to play the puck out of the air in the neutral zone, but winds up turning it over to Vegas instead. This is perfectly fine, there is plenty of support for him to make this play. Actually, the Jackets have four guys to defend three players.

It's what he does after the turnover that is a big red flag for me. As the Knights break in with a soft 2-on-1, his job is simple: find the third man and cover him. The F3 on the play (Johnson) is working back to help break up the play. Of course, he and the other defenseman (Erik Gudbranson) do a terrible job; but they get bailed out by Talbot, who makes a terrific save.

Which leads us right back to Soucy, who is coasting in, over-skates the puck, and doesn't have his mark-who is in perfect position to fire the puck into the net. When it goes in, he's inside of the net himself, completely out of the play. Once again, we have to wonder what this team sees in this guy. It can't just be about size.

Hopefully Dante Fabbro is ready to go on Tuesday, and we can shut up about it. For the time being, I'm glad the Blue Jackets were able to rally back and come away with a big two points last night.

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