Sunday night at Nationwide was a wild one. The Blue Jackets started and finished strong enough to get two massive points in regulation. But in the middle, it was all chaos.
We were not sure which version of the CBJ to expect. They had 5 full days of rest, and were missing their best player. Fortunately, we did not see weary holiday legs.
Good news: they started this game very well. They dominated the Islanders for the first 15 minutes of the game. Kirill Marchenko got the scoring started with a breakaway goal at 8:09.
Then, it looked like Dmitri Voronkov made it 2-0 on the power-play just minutes later. But, the goal was waived off as the referees deemed that the Jackets had pushed Islanders goaltender David Rittich into the net. I thought it was a terrible call, but I digress.
The Islanders killed off the rest of that penalty and took some momentum from it. They're a good veteran team, and were able to find the tying goal late in the period. Despite playing a pretty dominant home period, the Jackets found themselves in a tie game at the first intermission.
The second period was chaotic.
The best way to preface this part of the game: Mason Marchment's impact is being felt by both the Blue Jackets and their opponents. His nickname is "Mush", just like his old man. He's like his old man in a lot of ways, not the least of which is his willingness to walk the blurry line of legality on the ice.
Mush took a penalty late in the first period for throwing a check on the Islanders' star rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer. I'm still not sure that one was a penalty, but the young defenseman sold it enough to get the call.
The temperature started to rise because the visiting team certainly takes exception to any contact to their future franchise player. Can't really blame them for that. We would want the same thing.
Which leads us to what happened early in the second period, when Marchment took a terrible angle as Schaefer skated the puck up the ice, clipping his lower leg and taking him down in the neutral zone.
The reaction from the Islanders was swift and angry: their star center Mathew Barzal threw a two-handed axe-chop into the ankle of Marchment, lighting an emotional match for both sides.
The officials called major penalties to both Marchment and Barzal, but after reviewing video, reduced Marchment's tripping penalty to a minor. The second leading scorer from the Islanders was rightfully ejected.
Unfortunately, the Jackets were unable to take advantage of the power-play that resulted, in part because Marchment came out of the box and took his third minor penalty of the night.
The Islanders would score another goal midway through the period, then slog the game down and take a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.
Jackets came back to life in the third.
The Islanders have won a lot of games by slowing it to a crawl, but not last night. The Blue Jackets played the third period like a team determined.
They dominated possession of the puck, hemming the Islanders into their own end and forcing them to ice the puck repeatedly for much of the period. And, for once in their existence, they were rewarded.
Just when it looked like David Rittich would steal this game for the road team, Ivan Provorov fired a seeing-eye shot through traffic that somehow found its way in to tie the game with 4:33 left.
Nationwide Arena erupted, and that seemed to feed the well-rested team; while the team who played the night before started to feel heavier legs. Just 1:14 later, Marchenko scored his second of the night to give the Jackets the lead, and the place got even louder.
The Islanders pulled Rittich to try to tie the game, but Cole Sillinger quickly put this one on ice with a long empty net goal. The Jackets took a crucial two points in regulation, and suddenly seem to be finding their way.
What we learned.
I have two big takeaways. First, this team had a lot of good things going for them even though they were losing games over the last two months. But, they couldn't get over the top. They have done so in the last two, winning both games in regulation because they won the third period.
What changed? Mason Marchment has provided a spark. He may not be the most skilled guy in the world, but his presence has balanced out the forward group and his energy is contagious. He has four points (three goals) in three games since coming to the Jackets.
The other thing worth mentioning: this team is 2-0 without Zach Werenski. Their depth is working as it should, which is important because there won't be an urgent need to rush their best player back too soon.
Hopefully they can keep this momentum going in the right direction. These physical, emotional games seem to fuel their fire, so we may be seeing a team that is finding its identity.