Game #27 recap, Blue Jackets win despite coughing up another late lead

They almost let us down again. The Blue Jackets took a 4-3 lead into the third period at home last night, but coughed up two third period goals before having to rally and tie the game late.

It's fair to say that our Blue Jackets outplayed the Detroit Red Wings pretty heavily at 5 on 5 last night, but they still found themselves in a dogfight for two points. Thankfully, their shootout magic showed up and got them the win. Let's look at the good and bad.

Three Good Things

1. Kirill Marchenko came back and drove the offense. The Blue Jackets' top line scored three goals last night: two from Adam Fantilli, and one from Marchenko, who was returning after missing four games with an undisclosed injury.

The impact from #86 was immediately noticecable. That line had a lot of extra jump, and at 5 on 5 they were terrific aside from a couple of untimely penalties by Dmitri Voronkov.

2. They rallied in the big moments. Several times in this game, the Blue Jackets found themselves on the wrong end of momentum swings. The Red Wings seemed to have a knack for drawing a penalty or scoring a big goal, just when it felt like they were going away.

But each time the momentum swung, the Jackets fired right back. A shift in the offensive zone, or a goal of their own - including the late tying marker from Fantilli with the goaltender pulled. This game felt like a sign of maturity in the momentum category.

3. Shootout dominance. Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko have been almost automatic in the shootout this season, going a combined 8/9 in the skills competition.

The Jackets desperately needed 2 points last night, and it took their magic to make it happen.

Three Bad Things

1. Their penalty kill has regressed again. The Jackets were red hot on the PK for the last several weeks, but after giving up 3 goals on 4 chances last night; the pendulum has swung the other way.

They've allowed 5 power-play goals in their last 2 games. They have to clean up their special teams if they want to continue to keep pace with the rest of their division.

2. Elvis Merzlikins gave up two late muffins. I'm not here to fault Elvis on any of those power-play goals. The Red Wings were flinging the puck around at will with the extra man.

With that said...those two third period goals simply cannot happen. I know that Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat can both shoot the puck. But, this is the NHL, and NHL goaltenders should be making these saves.

There is good news on the back side of this: Elvis atoned for his mistake in overtime and particularly the shootout. In the end, it's a wash. But, it stinks that Detroit even got a point out of this game.

3. Head scratching player deployment. Again. Look, it's hard to criticize player usage when the team wins. But I'm going to do it anyway.

The big question: Why did the Blue Jackets have three defensemen on the ice during a third period power-play?

I don't care if one of them is Zach Werenski. You can't tell me that Yegor Chinakhov, or Luca del bel Belluz, or Kent Johnson (hello?!?) wouldn't have been a better option than one of Ivan Provorov or Damon Severson. As pointed out to us on X, at least give Denton Mateychuk a look. He is the team's second highest scoring defenseman, after all.

Or, continue with the same routine of trying to close the game out the hard way. Which is what happened. With a chance to separate themselves by two goals, we saw Dean Evason roll out Werenski, Provorov, and Severson on the ice along with Charlie Coyle and Cole Sillinger.

Play it safe. And we wonder why they can't put teams away...

Kent Johnson scored a goal last night, but never saw the ice on that power-play. Nor did Chinakhov, one of the best shooters on the roster. I'm not saying either of these guys should be your go-to at even strength, but with the extra man?

Also have to mention LDBB, and the fact of the matter here is, if you aren't playing him on the power-play, send him back to Cleveland and put Zach Aston-Reese back into the lineup. You're wasting his talents.

Final Thoughts

I think the best word to describe last night's win is: frustrating. We're seeing the same decisions continue to hold this team back.

From the 30,000 foot perspective, the entire hockey world can see that this team is going to live and die with its talented young core. But still, we're seeing the team fall back on the "old guard" when trying to close out these games.

At some point, they need to try something different in the third period. Hopefully they can get it figured out before giving away too many points in the standings. Though, I'm afraid it might already be too late.