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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57963834597217935852017-02-23T21:00:17.633-05:00The Dark Blue JacketAnalysis, wit and insight on Columbus' professional hockey teamTomhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-60117270131745456352017-02-23T21:00:00.000-05:002017-02-23T21:00:17.649-05:00The Dark Blue Jacket's Definitive History of the CBJ, Part IVB; A Calder Cup is Raised in Cleveland

Ryan Craig Receives the Calder Cup on the Jumbotron

This history has jumped around a bit lately, driven inexorably by circumstances. The loss of Richards at the beginning of the 2015-16 season, the ascent of Tortorella, and the startling beginning of 2016-17 have driven the narrative of this history. However, it is time to step back during this first ever 5 day bye week, and look to events after the end of the 2015-16 season that have great foreshadowing on what we have seen this year, and will see in the near future. The events I refer to are those surrounding the startling run by the Lake Erie Monsters, the new Cleveland AHL affiliate of the Blue Jackets, to a Calder Cup Championship.

The first hint of this was the announcement of the good news in the summer of 2015 that the Blue Jackets had established an affiliation with the Lake Erie Monsters. Notwithstanding the fact that the team was rebranded to the Cleveland Monsters for the 2016-17 season; for the bulk of this post I will refer to them as the Lake Erie Monsters, as that is the name they bore when they won the Calder Cup. Future editions will celebrate the exploits of the Cleveland Monsters.

In their first year as a CBJ affiliate, the Monsters had a very good season, one of the best ever for a Blue Jackets affiliate. The Springfield Falcons had made the playoffs for two years as the Jackets affiliate, and the Monsters looked to be well on the way to accomplishing the feat again when the Blue Jackets goal tending problems reached down to stir the waters of the affiliate.

The Monsters had cruised through the year, solidly competing for a playoff position. They had a number of good players. Josh Anderson, TJ Tynan, Michael Chaput, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Dillon Heatherington, Dean Kukan, and of course Anton Forsberg and Joonas Korpisalo as the goal tending tandem. Finally the goal tending situation at the parent club became so dire that both Forsberg and Korpisalo were called up to the Blue Jackets, stripping the Monsters of their primary goal tending tandem. At that point you wondered if the Jackets were cashing in the Monster's season because of the Jackets woes.

Enter Brad Thiessen, called up from the ECHL. Brad responded in a big way, in 22 games played, he recorded a 12-4-4 record with a sparkling 1.95 GAA and 0.929 save percentage. Events later on might push Brad aside, but his contribution was critical to keeping the Monsters in the playoff hunt late in the season. Then, once Sergei Bobrovsky was returned to health, a strange sequence of events occurred in the goal tending ranks. But Brad Thiessen's contribution to the Monsters' success in mid-season cannot be understated.

While Korpisalo was leading Jackets goal tenders with 16 wins in 31 games played, with a .920 save percentage and a 2.60 GAA, Anton Forsberg was returned to the Monsters once Bobrovsky healed. In spite of the fact that he has yet to break through at the NHL level, Forsberg returned to the Monsters and was very solid down the stretch, ensuring that the Monsters were in the playoffs in the first year of their affiliation with the CBJ.

With the Monsters on the cusp of a playoff appearance, an event occurred that continues to shake the organization's foundations to this day. That event was the ending of the University of Michigan's hockey season, coupled with some artful work by the front office types of the Blue Jackets, the Monsters, and hockey agents. In a bit of work that demonstrated an acute knowledge of the NHL and AHL collective bargaining agreements, Zach Werenski agreed to a amateur try out agreement, which made him eligible for the AHL playoffs. Shortly thereafter, the Jackets and Zach agreed to his entry level contract, and things began to get interesting.

Zach Werenski with the Calder Cup

When a player comes from the NCAA to the AHL, it is often a very big jump. The NCAA plays far fewer games, and the competition is quite different. And all sides agreed that Zach would start at the bottom of the barrel in the AHL, and the only things he would get he would earn. Using that simplistic assessment tool, Zach was soon a top pairing defenseman on the Monsters, because in hind sight it is easy to see that he was that good. Watching it as it happens, there is an odd commingling of hope, desire, and what you are really seeing that can cloud the picture. In this case, the first two things did not cloud vision; the guy was really that good. And from there, great events flowed. Zach Werenski played a mere 7 games in the regular season, but scored a goal, prefacing a more prodigious output in the post season.

Having said all that, it's not like Wereneski was all the Monsters had. Oliver Bjorkstrand and Josh Anderson had really good seasons, coming off strong campaigns in the Junior ranks, and the goal tending had been solid. They were an accomplished AHL team. The addition of Werenski was a catalyst to make them a truly great AHL team, as we shall see.

Going into the playoffs, the Monsters saw some changes. Sweet relief to the Blue Jackets disastrous 2015-16 season had finally come with the end of the season. Since Joonas Korpisalo had won the NHL job over Anton Forsberg, he was given the net for the playoffs in place of the red hot Forsberg. Korpisalo did not disappoint, as he recorded a three game sweep of the Blackhawks AHL team, the Chicago Wolves. About this time Lukas Sedlak was starting to catch fire, and start the process of scoring his 9 playoff goals.

The 3 game sweep of the Wolves propelled the Monsters into a second round series with the Grand Rapids Griffins, the affiliate of the Detroit Redwings. The Monsters started quickly, winning the first three games. In the fourth game, the Monsters rapidly scored 4 goals, yet Korpisalo inexplicably gave up 5 in the last period and OT to give the Monsters their first loss of the playoffs. In game game 5, Korpisalo gave up two quick goals, and yielded the net to Anton Fosberg as the Monsters lost their second and last game of the 2015-16 AHL playoffs.

Anton Forsberg in the final.

From that point, Anton Forsberg went on an incredible run, refusing to yield the net, and winning the next start against the Griffins, sweeping the Ontario (CA) Reign in 4 games, and in the Calder Cup final sweeping the Hershey Bears 4 -0, an incredible 9-0 run to the championship; refusing to yield the net to his friend who had taken it from him. During this run, Lukas Sedlak scored many more goals than he did in the regular season, Josh Anderson carried the team at times, and Oliver Bjorkstrand was lethal.

In the final game of the 2015-16 AHL playoffs, in front of a sold out and rocking Quicken Loans Arena, the Monsters and the Bears went to overtime, before Oliver Bjorkstrand recovered and scored on a rebound from a Zach Werenski shot, and the Monsters were celebrating a Calder Cup Championship in front of yours truly. What a moment, what a great game, and what a season by the Lake Erie Monsters.

In 2016-17 we have seen Zach Werenski bring many of the same things he brought to the Monsters to the Blue Jackets, and he has contributed to making history with the parent club with The Streak. That Zac Wereneski is a special player is exemplified by the Calder Cup, and The Streak, but you have to have a strong supporting cast to accomplish great things.

The 2015-16 Lake Erie Monsters

The 2016-17 Cleveland Monsters were decimated by the Calder Cup Championship. Many players were lost to pro contracts in other franchises, and the promotion of Josh Anderson, Zach Werenski, and Lukas Sedlak left holes in the lineup. Likewise, Coach Jared Bednar scored an NHL coaching position from the performance of the team. So 2016-17 is a season of reforming for the Monsters. Yet the Monsters of 2015-16 brought a historic championship to Cleveland, the first in 40 years, before it was soon eclipsed by a motivated Cleveland Cavaliers NBA team. Props to the Cavs in all ways, for beating the previous year's champion, yet there will always be a part of this writer who thinks that the Cavs watched the Monsters raise a Calder Cup, get a parade, and form an unshakeable resolve that they wanted that too. The Cavs parade was richly deserved, something to behold, and indeed did honor to the parade that preceded them. The Calder Cup Championship of the 2015-16 Lake Erie Monsters!

GO JACKETS!!

GO MONSTERS!!

Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-dark-blue-jackets-definitive.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-87478723712460918272017-02-19T23:09:00.001-05:002017-02-19T23:09:55.427-05:00That's Why You Play Best of Seven in the Playoffs

Werenski and Bjorkstrand, just like in the Calder Cup Finals

Tonight the Nashville Predators defeated the Blue Jackets 4-3, in a game that the CBJ clawed back to a tie, but lost in the end. Coach Tortorella ascribes that to a bad line change; perhaps so. But all night long, it struck me that no matter what the CBJ did, the puck ended up on the tape for Nashville. Not in the skates, but on the tape. Perhaps that's what they did, but I didn't think our guys played that poorly. That's hockey, to be sure. Sometimes the bounces go your way, sometimes they don't. It would be hard for a team that won 16 straight to say they never got a bounce, so you swallow a night like tonight.

In many ways, that's why all hockey playoffs are best of seven. The bounces go both ways, but in the end, they equal out, and you find out who is better. It would be hard to say the Jackets were 'better' than Nashville this year, the Preds won both games. They also got to play the CBJ as the last game before a significant break in both tries. That's the schedule. The Preds took advantage of it, and props to them. But that's why you play seven in the playoffs.

Now the Jackets take a 5 day vacation, which I think they well deserve. If it has taken awhile to get back to our game after The Streak, it will also take us awhile to get back to that after this break. So it goes. An easy opportunity for the Jackets would be to handle the break better than other teams. That can only be measured after the break.

Time to take a breath, as a fan. I know the grind is starting to tell on our group of season ticket holders. This is uncharted territory for us, and we need to get ourselves ready to power through to the playoffs. Likewise, the team must as well. There is a lot of hockey yet to be played.

Hockey is a game of bounces. The other guy got the bounces tonight, and they capitalized on our mistakes. That's why you play seven in the playoffs. As much as I think we have played the Penguins tough this year, that's why it's not a given you beat them in best of seven. But I look forward to the chance!

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/02/thats-why-you-play-best-of-seven-in.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-60233528698237151282017-02-18T14:39:00.000-05:002017-02-18T14:39:56.400-05:00You're Our Only Hope, Obi Wan Dubinsky

Hmm, Looks like Princess Leia had a tough night.

Reviewing last night's post, it looks like I was a little fired up after the game. That kind of thing happens with Penguins games. No matter though, I wanted to take a few moments to talk about Brandon Dubinsky, Boone Jenner, and Cam Atkinson. Dubi and Boone started slow, and Cam carried the scoring for the line. However Boone is just playing like a wrecking ball, forechecking with wild abandon, and Dubinsky's play has continued to elevate. Last night's overtime winner was a solid play from a line that was verging on being trapped on the ice after a long shift, and the Penguins had already made a change. So a really strong play by Dubinsky, aided and abetted by Cam Atkinson pressure to the net.

So in honor of how Dubinsky is playing, I decided to dig this old picture up. I've had a lot of fun with it before. So after two real emotional games, the Jackets have one more tomorrow against the Predators before they get their 5 day break. Here's hoping that the Jackets can generate the same level of play, and get some payback for the loss in Nashville before the All Star break.
Go JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://email@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/02/youre-our-only-hope-obi-wan-dubinsky.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-28321583940271983402017-02-18T00:16:00.000-05:002017-02-18T01:19:34.071-05:00No Goal!!

Dubinsky and Werenski

I resolved early in tonight's hockey game to not throw my hat when the refs waved off a third goal for the Blue Jackets, reasoning that it was a hat trick that did not deserve a hat. Shockingly, the referees did not wave off the Jackets fourth goal, which resulted in a 2-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime. I really don't want to dwell on the flimsy excuses the referees used to wave off Blue Jackets goals. We saw a graphic example of the leagues position on these things by their refusal to discipline Evengi Malkin on his egregious head shot on Blake Wheeler of the Jets. If it's bad for the champs, it doesn't work for the league.

By the way, once James Wisneiwski is done playing, he should definitely sue the league for a disproportionate enforcement of a rule. Any lawyer would take that case on spec (i.e. payment upon victory), because it would be so easy to show how Shanahan leveraged that position into president of hockey operations for the Maple Leafs, and how the league has enforced that rule disproportionately. They made an example of Wiz, so Shanny could get a job. Malkin leaves his feet for a head shot, and it's 'oh he's a star so no hearing'! What a bunch of crap, and easy to litigate. Wiz should get his suspension money back, or the league should force Shanny to bite it and hire Wiz as a scout. Wiz got an 8 game regular season suspension with his feet on the ice. Malkin jumped up and targeted the head and they wouldn't even review it. Any judge is going to give Wiz the benefit of laughing Cal Clutterbuck. Certainly Josh Anderson is free and clear for the rest of the year, no matter what he does. Any court room hearing that examines this travesty will result in a loss to the league. Make it right Malkin. Feign injury, take two games off, though you should have gotten five, and call it even. Then move on.

Speaking of moving on, the Jackets prevailed tonight against the Penguins, in spite of the fact that the referees waved off two goals using any pretext they could come up with. The first one maybe, the second one was waved off on the pretext that the Penguins actually had possession of the puck while Oliver Bjorkstrand was firing it into the net. What a crock of brown butter.

So if you are the Penguins, what is the worst thing that could happen to you? I mean, after all, your buddies the referees have bailed you out by waving off two goals! The hat trick is right there!! Instead, effing Dubinsky scores the winner against you, and there is no possible pretext for your buddies to bail you out. Well, you got your charity point, so at present you maintain home ice advantage over a playoff match up that is starting to look inevitable.

Which is what it is all about. What a fun game, Pittsburgh sucks, and we'll see you in the playoffs, flightless sea birds!

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!

Galloshttp://email@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/02/no-goal.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-63875060192250499882017-02-15T22:34:00.001-05:002017-02-15T22:34:44.888-05:00Bjork!!!

Oliver Bjorkstrand

While tonight might have really belonged to Joonas Korpisalo, I have long followed the career of Oliver Bjorkstrand, and his break away goal tonight, his first of the season in the NHL, was a huge goal, and a beautiful snipe. It was a 'Yuge' game tonight for the Blue Jackets, as they defeated a young and talented Toronto Maple Leafs squad 5-2, including an empty net goal by Matt Calvert.

The Jackets seemed to recognize that if you gave this team any room they were going to burn you, and played a very tight game for most of the night. Toronto made a push in the third period, but the Jackets contained them. This is not to say that there were not tense moments in Nationwide Arena tonight. That was there in abundance down the stretch. But Korpisalo kept them in the game early, and the team fought hard down the stretch, and they surpassed last year's point total finally.

With Scott Hartnell, a blog favorite, out of the line up on a day to day basis, Coach Tortorella took advantage of the presence of Oliver Bjorkstrand to do some line scrambling. The biggest questions for Bjorkstrand in the NHL game are his game away from the puck, and I thought tonight he was a heady player in the defensive zone, making sure his positioning was what it should be. Once when Seth Jones was caught up ice, making the play he should have made, Bjorkstrand was one of the two guys back covering the counter punch by the Leafs. So I view this game as a good step in his development, but still don't really see Bjorkstrand as a year long impact player until next year. At that time, someone is really going to have to show something to keep him off the team. This year he is a bit of a tweener, so the time he gets being 'the man' in Cleveland is great for his development. So I think his future looks really bright.

Awesome game tonight, well played by the CBJ when they really needed to play a good one. The Flightless Sea Birds are up next, in town for a Friday night Metro tilt. Yahoo!! That ought to be a ton of fun!

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/02/bjork.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-88838899704095363452017-02-12T09:33:00.001-05:002017-02-12T09:33:34.471-05:00Much Better, But Challenges Loom

The Columbus Blue Jackets played a more complete game last night, eking out a 2-1 win against the Detroit Redwings. Bobrovsky earned his first star of the game the hard way, turning away many quality shots, and making the big saves when they counted. He was especially sharp all night long. So how do we measure "better"?

It is important to remember that during The Streak, the Jackets were scoring just a touch over 3 goals a game, but at one point were giving up as few as 2.19 goals per game. To get that goals against number so low, you have to be holding a lot of people to one goal or fewer. A three goal game, even if you win, will really drag that number up. So last night, the CBJ held the Red Wings without a goal in 2 periods. If you look over the last stretch of games (8, 10, take your pick) the Jackets have struggled to keep people off the board in any given period. That this has coincided with a run of injuries to the defensive corps should really come as no surprise. Last night, with the top 6 back in the lineup for the first time in a long time, the Jackets returned to their stingy ways. So to keep your fingers on the pulse going forward, just ask yourself if we gave up any goals in the last period? If the answer to that is 'no', more often than not, then we are trending in the right direction.

So the Rangers come to town on Monday on our only nationally televised game of the year. Judging by the last couple of these games, it ought to be a barn burner, There's likely to be a couple of times when you ask yourself the question above and the answer will be 'yes'. If we answer 'no' more than once, we got a good chance in that one. But it will be a 'no lead is safe' game. The Rangers are nipping at our heels in the standings, and want to push us down into a wild card position. Pittsburgh is tied with us, and in between those two clubs come the Toronto Maple Leafs with their pack of young stars. That's a group where you want to establish the pecking order early, so our young team should come to play. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, the Rangers next. Since even a 6 goal lead apparently isn't enough on the Rangers, we better get to their goal tenders, and get to them early. It should be a heckuva game.

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/02/much-better-but-challenges-loom.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-16248896441667076062017-02-09T22:37:00.000-05:002017-02-09T22:37:58.640-05:00One Team Came to Win, Another Came to Play

Tonight the Vancouver Canucks outplayed the Blue Jackets in a game of meh. I think Vancouver had lost something like 3 games in a row, and were going to be fairly desperate to reverse that on a long road trip. The Jackets play 2 games against Vancouver, won one already, and sweeping this series just isn't a big motivator. The schedule has set the Jackets up to go to war in the Metropolitan Division and in the Eastern Conference down the stretch. That is their focus. With a middling Pacific Division Team for an opponent, the Jackets seemed to have a hard time getting their juices flowing.

So it goes. Make no mistake that Vancouver deserved the win. I felt they got the bounces, but I also felt that they earned the bounces with their effort. The Jackets simply did not win many puck battles tonight. So they got ignominiously shut out by a team they probably should beat. If they bring the same so-so effort to the game Saturday night against Detroit they will get spanked, and it will be time to start getting worried. If they decide to take exception to the unpunished head shot to Josh Anderson, and come to play, they will be fine, and it will be a really fun game to watch. Even if they lose, they will be able to say they came to play. A phrase they cannot really use about tonight's effort.

I have felt that I wanted to see the Jackets stand pat at the trade deadline, and get their change from below, from the AHL. After tonight, I'm not so sure. Oliver Bjorkstrand is up from Cleveland. There are a number of players I think he could have subbed in for and done a better job. Gagne really stands out to me. He didn't particularly have a bad game tonight, or one that would stand out as bad, but he has become invisible. The secondary scoring has dried up. It costs you nothing to dump Bjorkstrand in at right wing on that 4th line and see what happens. Hartnell seemed like one of the few players that had it going tonight. It would be nice to go all Bjork on Detroit. Just saying.

The Jackets were co-conspirators in tonight's win by Vancouver. The team that worked hardest won the game. I'm not saying the Jackets didn't try. I think they did. Vancouver tried harder, and got the result they deserved. They earned the bounces they got. The line is so fine in the NHL right now.

Query? Would you dump Jerome Iginla on that fourth line in place of Gagne? What about a rental defenseman at the deadline? Some of these things are coming into focus for the Jackets. Tonight's unsatisfactory result helps to give you clarity.

Overall my take on tonight's game? That's hockey. No one goes undefeated in an NHL season. Every team loses some games. As long as we finish in that 2 or 3 slot in the Metro, its war with the Penguins in the playoffs. To me, that's as it should be, and we have to go through the Penguins to get anywhere anyway, so you might as well start out there. Does the outcome of tonight's game affect that. No. But you sure want to go into a series like that playing good hockey. It would be hard to describe tonight's game by the Blue Jackets in that fashion.

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/02/one-team-came-to-win-another-came-to.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-42258688547738086892017-02-04T11:35:00.000-05:002017-02-04T11:35:14.163-05:00Running With the Big Dogs

Seth Jones

I was all over the place last night thinking how this blog post should go. Towards the end of the first period I had "A Tale of Two Defenses" picked out as my title to describe why the Penguins pulled away after scoring 2 goals in the first period. They finally have their top 6 D-men healthy. Letang went down right before we played them the first time and Dumoulin suffered a broken jaw; a couple of hits to their top 6 D. And, of course, now we have injuries to our D corps, and our top 6 are depleted. I was thinking those injuries would limit our ability to really compete with the elite teams, such as the Penguins.

But a funny thing happened in the second period. Dubinsky scored a greasy goal to put the Jackets back in the game. Sure they promptly coughed up another goal, but the CBJ kept at it, tilted the ice, and came up with the third period goals necessary to forge a tie and garner a point. A tough bounce in overtime and the Jackets lost to the Penguins 4-3.

As I mentioned before, poor Prout has a hard time keeping up when we are playing the elite teams. I will be interested to see if the same thing is the case with the New Jersey Devils tomorrow night. We have not played them yet, so I really don't have a good feel for them as a team. But I get the sense that New Jersey isn't going to try to kill you with speed, and Prouter may feel more comfortable in one of those games. Plus we are at home, and the CBJ have more control on the match-ups. But in the Penguins game, the coaches were forced to staple him to the bench, and played with 5 defensemen in the later parts of the game. At this point the team really seemed to get going.

Pleasingly, Scott Harrington seemed up to the pace last night once he started getting paired with Seth Jones. Harrington has only played in 10 games this year, and only 35 NHL games overall, but he looks like he is a real NHL defenseman. No wonder Jarmo wouldn't risk sending him to the AHL, even though we would have been compensated with a 5th round pick.

So what we have learned in these last two road games against the elite of the Metropolitan Division is that if you are crazy enough to roll out a Prout-Harrington pairing, the opposition will load up a line to pin you deep and squeeze a goal out of you because your forwards will be forced to come back in the help defend the goal. I'm happy to give Prout an A for effort, but like every human he has his limitations. He attempted to stretch those last night by carrying the puck, but the results weren't good. It's just a statement of how quickly the league has changed to a bunch of speed demons, especially for defensemen, and Prout is a physical, stay at home defenseman. The team ended up being better off playing with 5 fast defenseman, a la Joel Quenneville and the Blackhawks. Quenneville won a Cup by ignoring his bottom pairing defensemen.

So if you are reading this, and you listened to the DKM Hockey podcast (see right column or http://www.jacketscannon.com/), you are probably the hockey guy/gal in your office/class, and you are going to be asked the question, "Do the Blue Jackets have what it takes to really compete with the leagues elite?" And you are going to get those questions with increasing frequency over the upcoming months. In my opinion, the answer is yes, and I'll tell you why.

First and foremost is the defense. Well, okay first and foremost is Bob. But he doesn't score any goals, and you need those to win hockey games. So back to the defense. In the space of a little over a year and a half the NHL has become a haven of speed merchants. Your defense has to able to really skate. And give Jarmo credit. When you compare the defense that began 2015-16 to the one that began 2016-17 it has been completely transformed into the prototypical modern NHL defense. Jarmo is aided in this task by having two rookies, Zach Werenski (wow!) and Markus Nutivaara perform at extremely high levels. Our top 6 D, when healthy, move the puck, transition the puck and more importantly spring the forwards from collapsing defensively so that they can get in on the forecheck.

This was abundantly illustrated last night, as in the first period the forwards were remaining high in the offensive zone launching shots from a distance, because in the face of transition from the Penguins, the third D pair was giving ground, so the forwards had to collapse with them, abandoning the offensive zone. This results in a lot of 'one and done' shots. When the coaches started to only put the more mobile defensemen on the ice, they were able to support the forwards in the offensive zone, confident that they could get back in the face of a transition. Dubinsky's goal was about the third shot the put on Murray, rapid fire from point blank range, the antithesis of one and done. In spite of giving up another goal, the Jackets game was functioning the way it is supposed to function, and the end result was they were able to tie it up, and put real pressure towards winning it in regulation. That's how the mobility of the 2016-17 defense makes things work.

One of the other main reasons that I think the team has the wherewithal to 'Run with the Big Dogs' is Alexander Wennberg. He is quietly transitioning into an elite center in this league. And though I agree with the DKM boys that picked Bobrovsky as the MVP, my pick is Wennberg. When you think at this point he has replaced the production of Ryan Johansen, a really good player, it means that functionally the organization got All-Star Seth Jones (what a player!) for free. Wennberg did not look at all out of place, on the road, in the barn of the Stanley Cup Champions. And, I think he will continue to improve as the year goes on.

The forward corps is deep, and while it lacks glittering stars, the drop off between the top and the bottom is not really great. With the fast, mobile defensive corps launching them at the opposition, they are in a position to maximize their abilities, and come at people in waves. That is what we saw during The Streak. Since they are not dependent on one or two people for production, you tend to see it out of the line that has the favorable match-ups.

In summary, if you are asked, the Columbus Blue Jackets have what it takes to run with the big dogs. Lots of hockey yet to play in the regular season. Tonight's game against the Devils, the first of the year against this team will be interesting. Part of running with the big dogs is that you get everyone's best shot. And you need to take that, and handle it. While the Devils aren't real high in the standings now, they have what it takes to beat you if they are playing their best game. So after an emotional game last night, how will the Jackets respond to a lesser opponent, albeit on home ice? (Hint: the fans can help here). Because we WILL get the Devils best shot.

Two road games against elite teams in the Metropolitan Division, 3 of a possible 4 points. That kind of performance will take you far. Should be a great time at Nationwide tonight! Hope to see you there.

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/02/running-with-big-dogs.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-66624067277624793002017-02-01T14:14:00.001-05:002017-02-01T14:14:35.829-05:00Ruminating on the Rangers Game

Dalton Prout

Well, the Rangers went out of their way last night to prove my point in the last post. They loaded up a speed line against the Prout-Harrington pair to the extent that Brad Shaw had to juggle the pairings. Dalton Prout is a stout, physical defender, but can't keep up with the speed of some teams. I don't intend for this to be a Prout bashing session. He has done what he can with the limited ice time he has had this year. But I would like to point out that if we end up in a playoff series against one of those big heavy teams, like Boston or San Jose, that we seem to struggle with, we may find Prout and Harrington coming to the fore.

Actually, for a guy with darn few NHL games, Harrington has played credibly. Paired with Seth Jones last night after the pairs juggling by Shaw he acquitted himself well. And, even though the Rangers loaded up on the Prout-Harrington pair, and pinned them deep a few times in the first period, the Rangers still didn't score. In the third period outburst by the Rangers, the Jackets got pinned deep by feeble attempts to clear the puck. That is something that is correctable. But these Rangers games are going to turn my hair gray before the season is over. No lead is safe. Yeesh.

On the great news front, according to Twitter, Markus Nutivaara skated before practice today, then stuck around for the whole practice. It may be a bit until he is ready to go, but having him back in the lineup would be a big plus. Who plays the right side on the third pairing is somewhat in question, but that will become clear in time.

It was great to see the Jackets get back in the win column, even though it was a bit hair raising at times. Next stop Pittsburgh, which should be an interesting measuring stick to see where we are, and how rough this is going to be down the stretch.

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/02/ruminating-on-rangers-game.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-75275701355250870502017-01-25T21:19:00.000-05:002017-01-25T21:19:02.479-05:00Confronting Speed at the Blue Line

Markus Nutivaara

For many Blue Jackets fans this last few games since the streak has been hard, as the team is not playing particularly well. Personally I think this kind of thing is normal after a streak of that magnitude, but there are some underlying issues that erode the teams ability to play the smothering style of defense that they played during the streak. It is related to the injuries in the defensive corps, and it was illustrated last night very clearly (i.e. even I saw it).

Dalton Prout is a sturdy, defensive defenseman, and I will always love him for that one-punch knock down of Milan Lucic, which settled his hash with the Blue Jackets. However, even his mother wouldn't call him fast (by NHL standards). So a good solid depth defenseman. And in this particular instance it illustrates what the Islanders did to the Blue Jackets last night.

The Islanders scored a couple of goals late in the game by attacking through the neutral zone with speed. Prout has two options. First he could confront the speed at the blue line. If he wins that confrontation, its all good. However, if he gets beat, the opposing forward is going to make him look like a pylon as he goes flying around him wide. So Prout exercises his second option. He gives ground (ice) back into the defensive zone. The Islanders were coming through the neutral zone so fast that he was giving up a lot of ice so they wouldn't beat him. This gives the shooter time and space, and the Islanders were using the Jackets defensemen as screens to confuse Bob as they launched their shots. And NHL shooters with time and space make goalies look bad.

How does this happen? During the streak, it was near impossible for the opposition to get through the neutral zone. To illustrate the recent differences, I am going to talk about Markus Nutivaara. He was a revelation in training camp, jumping over several people on the depth chart, and has had an outstanding rookie season so far. His primary asset is his speed, and he can flat out fly for a defenseman. When he confronts someone with speed at the blue line, he has the speed to recover from losing that confrontation. Prout simply doesn't have that option.

But wait, our offense has dried up too! Well, what Nutivaara and Jones, and Zach, and Murray are doing is confronting the opponents speed at the offensive blue line, not the defensive blue line. If Nutivarra gets beat by a play at the offensive blue line, which causes a break away, he has the speed to chase the play down and interfere with the shooter so they don't have a clean shot at Bob. So on a 50-50 play, Nutivarra can afford to hold the fort at the blue line. Prout, on the other hand, has to give up the offensive blue line on that 50-50 play, and starts giving ice before the play has exited the offensive zone in order to make sure he at least gets into a defensive position. This allows for cleaner exits by the opposing team, and all of a sudden the CBJ forwards are trapped deep on the forecheck because we can't hold the offensive blue line with confidence. With cleaner exits, the opposing team generates more speed, Prout gives more ground, and you get a result like last night.

With our defense healthy, and Nutivarra and Murray playing that third pairing, we have as good a third pair as anyone in the league. When the other team was trying to make a breakout, they would confront the puck at the offensive blue line (as would Jones and Werenski as well as Johnson and Savard), and those 50-50 plays they won would contribute to increased offensive pressure. With Prout conceding the 50-50 play up front, the offensive pressure breaks down, and bad things happen.

Prout has played what, four games this year? He will get better at some of these things, and find ways to do better. He's a solid NHL defenseman. But his strength is physicality, and the league is getting faster. When Nutivarra gets healthy, it will help solidify some of the systems that are breaking down now.

But injuries are part of the gig in the NHL. That's when your depth is tested. So we have sagged to a .500 team. I gotta be true to you folks, that's all I was hoping for at this point in the season before the season started. I'd be looking for a late playoff run based on my preseason expectations as well, not figuring they would do that in December! Woot! 16-0 baby! Ahem. Sorry.

So the speed of the game is bothering part of our defensive corps right now, but not every team has enough speed to cause that kind of problem. That will change when defenseman heal. We were going to lose some games anyway, because this certainly isn't a 136 point team, yet. So this is a natural process in a long season, tough as it may be to stomach. Get well fast Markus!!

P.S. Will everyone please lay off Ryan Murray! He is a left shot playing the right side for the first time in his career in the toughest league on the planet. There will be warts! He is playing on his backhand. If you feel you need to criticize, okay, but spend a day doing everything with your off hand. You likely will find it awkward. Do if for a year, no problem, you get used to it. He is somewhere in between right now.

These guys have earned a break. Sneak out of Nashville with a win, and you went .500 after the streak, and you deserve a vacation.

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/01/confronting-speed-at-blue-line.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-65528702289181830852017-01-23T20:23:00.001-05:002017-01-23T20:23:37.192-05:00Cam Is Getting Kinda Scary

Cam Atkinson has been on an unbelievable tear lately. He is playing with supreme confidence, and his goal in overtime against Ottawa was spectacular. Cam is playing at a point a game clip, which is sort of the semi-official threshold of Wow! His goal total for last year was 27, which is really solid. After 46 games he already has 23 goals, eclipsing his totals in 2013-14 and 2014-15. And I think he is playing within himself. This isn't a lucky shooting streak, this is Cam at the top of his game.

Most importantly, Cam is learning to be "the man" at crunch time. In the 2013-14 playoff series against the Penguins the Blue Jackets were eliminated in six games. At the end of game 6 I longed for the recently traded Marion Gaborik to be coming down the ice with the puck on his stick. I wanted someone who is truly dangerous and capable of generating a real wicked shot. Well in the 2016-17 playoffs, Cam needs to be that man and I think he is growing into the role. Which is really cool to see, when you get right down to it.

Look Cam. You are an All-Star in my book. No doubt. But its a break! Take some time off to recharge, and come back ready for the assault on the 2016-17 playoffs. We are playing Metro games the rest of the way pretty much. The preliminaries are starting here. Do you play a wild card, a team that's playing hot, or do you get the Penguins, or the Capitals?? No easy road forward, but lots of questions out there yet.

The depth of the organization is being tested for the first time this season. So far it is holding up okay. But honestly, I had real intestinal discomfort with the image of Zach Werenski laying on the ice. Fortunately he is okay. But he gets a 3-4 day break with the All-Star game. Important heal up time!

The intensity of the play across the NHL picks up after the All-Star break. It is one of those ratchet periods in a season. I hope the Jackets come back rested, renewed and ready for the drive to the playoffs.

If the Jackets can win their next two games (not at all necessary), they will equal the number of points they had last year before the All-Star break. That's pretty cool. They have performed well, but there will be sterner demands ahead. I really believe these players are up to the task. This is going to be a lot of fun.

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://email@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/01/cam-is-getting-kinda-scary.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-62114493398041704242017-01-18T11:50:00.002-05:002017-01-18T11:50:57.325-05:00The Dark Blue Jackets Definitive History of the CBJ: Part IVA; #Unsustainabowl

The first stage has dropped away from the Atlas V Rocket that is the Columbus Blue Jackets. We are in that odd space in time where we are waiting for the second stage to ignite, and the heights it will propel us to are still unknown. But we got a heckuva lift from that first stage.

The engineers at CBJ central packed that sucker full of an undefeated December and an NHL record. When you mix those two unstable compounds, well BOOM!

As our brains try to recover from the G forces they have been subjected to, we will come to realize that some losses are an inevitable part of that drifting time while we wait for the second stage to ignite. Will adding a little Korpisalo be the ingredient we need? This remains to be seen.

This part of the blog is intended to chronicle the journey of the Columbus Blue Jackets. When last we left, we were trying to determine the significance of Joonas Korpisalo's run in goal for the 2015-16 CBJ. Ironically, at the mid-point of the 2016-17 season we are in the same position, but not the same place. As I write this the Blue Jackets have fallen out of first place in the NHL for the first time since before Christmas. This in itself is worthy of note.

But this iteration of the Blue Jackets is intent on larger goals, while having also accomplished other things of historic significance. It is indeed a rich time to be writing about Blue Jackets history.

A short list of the team's accomplishments in the first half of the season is as follows:

A. Second longest win streak in NHL history, 16 games.

B. First time in major North American Sports where two professional teams with win streaks of 12 games or more have faced off against one another, when the Jackets played the Minnesota Wild. The Jackets prevail in that New Year's Eve game. The previous best was two 11 game streaks playing each other in the NBA (as cited by the Columbus Dispatch).

C. Undefeated in the month of December.

The things that flow from this success are many, including a prolonged run in first place overall in the NHL.

Setting The Stage

Following the disastrous campaign of 2015-16 the consensus for the Blue Jackets was a near bottom finish in the NHL. The view of the team was that they were hamstrung by bad contracts, and there was a vocal contingent of the media that was loudly trumpeting that John Tortorella would be the first coach fired in the 2016-17 season. Instead, Torts is going to the All Star game because his team has the highest winning percentage in the league.

The only move of substance prior to the beginning of training camp was the acquisition of free agent Sam Gagner for near the league minimum to help shore up the center position. In addition, the team had several veterans, some with pretty good pedigrees on Player Try Out (PTO) agreements in camp. This reinforced the view from the outside that this wasn't a very good team.

Instead of nearly washed up veterans making the team, the thing that emerged from Tortorella's brutal (but advertised ahead of time) training camp was a cadre of young players pushing veterans down the depth chart, or out of the league. The Jackets routinely looked slow and ineffective in preseason games because they were skating so hard in training camp. Their preseason record was poor compared to last year, and it seemed as if some of the fatigue carried over into the first two games of the season.

The Start

The 2016-17 Blue Jackets started the season much like the 2015-16 CBJ, by coughing up a lead in the third period to lose the opener, this time to the Bruins instead of the Rangers. After losing the second game to the Sharks, certain people, such as this writer, were in panic mode with the thought that a repeat of 2015-16 might be in the offing. As a result of the schedule, the CBJ got their 5 day break early in the season after those two games. John Tortorella used that time as a mini-training camp to solidify systems. You can talk about systems all you want, but waiting at the end of the 5 day hiatus were the powerful Chicago Blackhawks, followed by a road trip to the West Coast.

Shockingly, the Blue Jackets beat the Blackhawks, 3-2, and headed out west. First stop was Dallas, a preseason pick to have a fine season, but the CBJ jumped them, and Bobrovsky garnered his first shutout of the year in the 3-0 win. Continuing west to play the LA Kings, a game which the CBJ lost in overtime to secure a point, the Jackets had back to back games against San Jose and Anaheim. Losing to San Jose again, and thankfully closing out that season series, the CBJ beat Anaheim 4-0, erupting for 4 goals in the first period, and shutting them down to earn Bob his second shutout of the road trip. This allowed the Jackets to come back from the west coast, and end October with a credible .500 record at 3 wins-3 losses and 1 OT loss (3-3-1), which gave them 7 points. No need to compare points to the previous year, as the Jackets had not yet won a game in 2015-16 at this stage of the season.

As November rolled around, the Jackets continued to hover around the .500 mark, but with some unusual signs emerging. They beat Dallas at home in the return game for that season series, sweeping the two games with Dallas. One of the more unusual games played in Nationwide Arena was next, as the Blue Jackets faced a hot Montreal Canadiens team that was on a 9 game point streak. The CBJ curb stomped the Habs, scoring 3 goals in the first period, 5 goals in the second period, and 2 goals in the third period to beat them 10-0. In one of the strangest events I ever witnessed at a CBJ hockey game, late in the third period, with the Jackets leading 9-0, the crowd was chanting "We want 10, we want 10!!" so Josh Anderson obliged the home fans to set the final score.

The next night the Jackets traveled to St. Louis, where they lost 2-1 in OT, then came back home and beat Anaheim in OT, before traveling to play Boston, where they lost their second game of the year to the Bruins , 5-2. The Jackets then went on a small four game winning streak by beating St. Louis, Washington and the Rangers at home, and the Capitals again on the road (and really pissing off Barry Trotz), before falling to Colorado at home in overtime. Calgary beat the Jackets 2-0 in the next game at home, before they traveled to Florida for the back to back with Tampa Bay and the Panthers. The Jackets won the game against the Bolts, but lost to Florida in overtime the next night. Then the Jackets came back home and beat Tampa Bay 5-1 to close out the month of November. As a result of all of this good play, the Jackets went 9-2-3 in November, leaving them 12-5-4 overall, with 28 points.

This is a very nice start for the CBJ, and positions them well for the remainder of the season. The national media is disappointed that Tortorella has not yet been fired, and is quick to point out that the CBJ can obviously not sustain this type of performance, with their scorching hot powerplay and excellent save percentage by Bob combining to give them a PDO over 100 (PDO is adding shooting percentage to save percentage), which means the pundits think this is all an illusion that will horrifyingly crash down in flames.

Tragically for the CBJ, there is ample historical precedent for the team to horrifyingly crash down in flames in December. In this space I have called it the December swoon, one of the best examples being the 2009-10 CBJ, which despite a hot start lost 8 straight in December to ultimately cost Ken Hitchcock his job. However, the 2016-17 CBJ opted for another strategy. They stomped on the gas.

The Streak

Beginning with the last game of November, a 5-1 win over Tampa Bay, the Columbus Blue Jackets launched on a historic run of winning, the likes that this franchise has never seen, and the NHL has seen only once before. My own observation at the beginning of this time was my take away from the Bolts game. I thought the CBJ had their way with the Lightening, and I wanted to see how they would react to some adversity. They got some of that pretty quickly, traveling out to Colorado, and surrendering a 2 goal first period lead in the second period before Boone Jenner won it in the third. The next night they went to Phoenix, where the CBJ poured 60 shots at Mike Smith, the Coyotes goal tender, but had to come from behind to tie the game and send it to the shootout where Curtis McElhinney prevailed over the exhausted Smith. Then the CBJ and the Yotes got together in Nationwide Arena two days later and the Jackets won a more convincing 4-1 game.

After a couple of day break, the Jackets traveled to Detroit and won 4-1, before returning home to beat the Islanders 6-2. Then they had a road trip to Northwestern Canada, where they beat Edmonton 3-1, Calgary 4-1, and Vancouver in OT 4-3. Sweeping a Western Canada road trip is no easy thing to do. Then the Jackets returned home to Nationwide arena, and beat the LA Kings in a shootout to split the season series with the Kings, followed by a 7-1 thrashing of the Penguins, and eking out a 2-1 win against a Montreal team that was unhappy with their earlier treatment. This got the CBJ to the Christmas Holiday break riding a 12 game winning streak, and allowed them to ascend to first place overall in the NHL standings, an unprecedented achievement for the franchise to date.

By mid-December some of the pundits predictions of doom had started to turn to grudging admiration of the Jackets by virtue of what they had earned. After the Christmas holiday, the media recognition started to snowball into a huge circus.

After Christmas, the Jackets beat Boston 4-3, then traveled to Winnipeg and beat the Jets 5-3. This set the stage for another historic moment in this run, as the Blue Jackets brought their 14 game winning streak to Minnesota, to play the Wild on a New Years Eve clash of streaking teams. The Wild brought their own streak of 12 consecutive wins to the game, making this a historic confrontation. For the first time in North American major professional sports history, 2 teams with winning streaks of 12 or more games were going to play each other with their respective streaks on the line (as reported by the Columbus Dispatch).

In the run-up to this game, the Minnesota Wild had received a roughly equal amount of criticism about their ability to sustain the level of performance they were showing. Since both teams had been repeatedly told by national pundits that their performance was unsustainable, the New Year's Eve matchup was dubbed "the unsustainabowl", a clash of two teams that were not supposed to be where they were.

In front of a playoff like atmosphere, the Jackets jumped out to a 3-1 lead, and ended up winning the game 4-2 to push their winning streak to 15 games, and to tie for the second longest winning streak in NHL history.

This win allowed the Jackets to also go UNDEFEATED in the month of December an amazing accomplishment, allowing them to finish the calendar year with 56 points, compared to the 72 points that they achieved in all of 2015-16.

In their next game, the CBJ faced a talented young Edmonton Oilers team who vowed to break the Jackets streak. The Blue Jackets won that home game 3-1 to give themselves sole possession of the second longest winning streak in NHL history.

Next, they would go to Washington to play the Capitals and see if they could tie the longest win streak in NHL history set by the 91-92 Penguins of Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux. Instead, it was Washington's night, and they skated away with a 5-0 win to finally break the Blue Jackets winning streak. But sole possession of the second longest winning streak in NHL History, 16 games, belongs to the Columbus Blue Jackets. For the first time the franchise splashes its name across the record books in a significant and positive way.

Since that time, some of the stresses of the streak have emerged, and Bobrovsky has had to fight off a significant illness. The team has been playing .500 hockey as they try to put The Streak behind them. The media circus has packed its tents and gone elsewhere chasing news, and the team has to settle down to the task of securing advantageous position in the playoffs.

In addition, the team has finally gone down a path it thought it would have to walk much sooner in the year, and Curtis McElhinney was put on waivers after a late collapse against the New York Rangers, and Anton Forsberg was elevated to the NHL club. CMac was claimed by Toronto, and has already won a game for them.

In the meantime, Forsberg had one shaky outing, and was sent down. Korpisalo looks to be the guy with a leg up on the back up competition, and has gone 1-1 so far. We need a winning backup down the stretch here.

So much has happened this year, putting this history off until the summer was just not an option. And there will be much more of a story to tell, as a playoff run seems certain for this club, barring utter disaster.

Hope Is Not A Strategy

Before I wind this down, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of Jeff Little, a long time Jackets fan, and a gifted writer. Jeff lately wrote for our colleagues over at The Cannon, and had amazing analytical ability on top of his gifts as a writer. Jeff's writing often shed light on the baffling twists and turns of the Blue Jackets early years, and it was he who coined the phrase "hope is not a strategy".

Jeff's insight will be sorely missed, along with his wit and wisdom. My only solace is that the Columbus Blue Jackets sat in first place in the NHL at the time of his passing, a phenomenon that must have been pleasing to him. We will keep you in our minds and our hearts Jeff.

Interim Summation

So, we have had to delve into the history of the Blue Jackets at an unlikely point of the season, but the need to recap this first half was overwhelming. There is a long journey yet ahead of these young Blue Jackets, and many miles to go before they sleep. But it will be a lot of fun!!

GO JACKETS!!

GO MONSTERS!!
Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-dark-blue-jackets-definitive.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-32150903074477862662017-01-14T10:34:00.000-05:002017-01-14T10:34:35.230-05:00First Place at the Turn. But Wait! There's More!

Joonas Korpisalo wins a big one.

The Columbus Blue Jackets reached the mid-point of their season, and remain in first place in the NHL on the strength of a solid win by Joonas Korpisalo. The big Finn got his glove engaged early, and did a good job swallowing pucks against the surging Tampa Bay Lightening. The Bolts were surging due to the energy provided by the ceremony for the retirement of Marty St. Louis' jersey by the home team, and the Jackets had to contain their charge.

Eventually the Jackets found their legs, potted 2 goals and an empty netter to pull away and win 3-1 to maintain their first place position against the streaking Washington Capitals. To me, the ice firmly tilted in the Jackets favor when the newly constituted second power play unit got on the ice, with Seth Jones and Ryan Murray on D, and William Karlsson, Brandon Saad and Scott Hartnell as forwards. This group put on pressure to score, and seamlessly transitioned into 5 on 5 play when the power play was over. This evidently got the attention of the first power play unit, which responded by scoring on its next opportunity instead of just passing the puck around. So far that second unit has only seen the ice one time. I can't wait to see what happens when they get familiar with one another. And I like the pressure to score they put on the first unit. Healthy competition.

So, the first half of the season is in the books, and the Jackets end up in holding first place. A very creditable effort. So what will we see in the second half of the season? Scarily, I think this team could get better, and perhaps challenge for a President's trophy. Crazy? Absolutely! But here is why I think this is possible. It starts with Joonas Korpisalo, and it ends with Markus Nutivaara.

Markus Nutivaara.

Let's start with Joonas Korpisalo. With the crazy run to the Calder Cup Championship by the Lake Erie Monsters, I forgot the magnitude of the importance of Korpisalo's contribution to the Blue Jackets last year. A lost team in a lost season, the goal tending corps decimated by injuries, and along comes the young Finn to stake the team to a 13-3 run to let them complete the year with a winning feeling. I may have forgotten, but John Tortorella and the leadership core of the players have not forgotten. It was the only real success they enjoyed last year. So to say that they are comfortable with Korpisalo in net is an understatement.

If you superimpose that 13-3 run from last year on top of the way Bob is playing, this team starts to look really scary good. Korpisalo doesn't really need to be that good for the team to have success, but he might need it if he wants to keep the number 2 job.

Before I go on, I'd like to quickly digress about Anton Forsberg. I am disappointed for him that his initial shot at the number 2 spot didn't work out. But I think this guy is a good goal tender, he just needs to learn to play with confidence in the NHL, and so far he has been unable to do that. But I think it will come. Hang in there Anton! The likelihood that Vegas is going to snatch Korpisalo will be growing ever higher, so organizationally we need Anton Forsberg to succeed.

Okay, back on topic. The second thing I wanted to talk about was the importance of Markus Nutivaara's contribution. The fleet defenseman brings a real turn of speed and composure to the third pairing. He is simply fantastic for a rookie playing in North America for the first time. But let's examine more closely what he has been able to do. In order to accommodate the rookie in the lineup, Nutivaara's line mate, Ryan Murray shifted to the right side, as they are both left shot defenseman. This put Murray on his backhand for probably the first time in his career, and it took awhile for Murray to get comfortable there. It is a credit to the young defenseman that he could make such a shift in the midst of an NHL season. But here of late I have noticed that Nutivaara has been playing the right side, which puts Murray on his forehand again. And last night I saw Nutivaara circle behind the net, gather Murray's pass on his back hand and go steaming up the ice. Markus' ability to play the right side raises interesting possibilities.

Zach Werenski, also a left shot defenseman, has had an amazing rookie campaign of his own. And he has stood up well to the white hot pressure of playing on a top pairing with Jones. But he is now at a point where he is playing more games than he has ever played in any given year. And he is showing some of the normal signs of struggle that young players go through when the entire NHL decides that it is worth their while to mess with your game. If the heat starts to get a little much, it may be well to give him some relief from that top pair so he can still get the minutes in. So if Nutivaara can play the right side, I am immensely curious to see what would happen if you paired Werenski with Nutivaara at times. That is a defensive pairing that could REALLY skate, and it might open up some real possibilities offensively. In addition, it allows you to move Murray up with Jones, which may yet be the best pairing on the team. That Wereneski can move that pairing around as a rookie is a real testament to his talent and ability to play at a high level.

So as crazy as it seems, even though the Jackets are in first place, there are some real reasons to think that they may get better as we go down the stretch. And there yet remains a great deal of talent in the AHL should people start to falter as the heat gets turned up (thinking Bjorkstrand on the top PP unit here).

Tonight its the Panthers, and Torts said Joonas might get the net again. This is not Gerard Gallant's Panthers, so lets hope the Jackets can do some damage tonight!

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/01/first-place-at-turn-but-wait-theres-more.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-90450208826937839212017-01-12T19:25:00.000-05:002017-01-12T19:25:05.833-05:00Searching for a Winning Backup

Joonas Korpisalo is now the backup.

Surprisingly today, the Columbus Blue Jackets sent Anton Forsberg back to the Cleveland Monsters and retained Joonas Korpisalo as the backup goal tender behind Sergei Bobrovsky.

Even though he was rushed into duty, Forsberg did not have a particularly strong game against Carolina. That assessment was applicable to most of the roster as well, but the goal tender seemed unable to make the key save. The team played well in front of Joonas Korpisalo last year, and I imagine they are interested in seeing if the same thing holds for this year. For Korpisalo it is a good opportunity to get on track. I think he believes he proved he could play in this league last year, so its time to see if he can back that thought up with wins. Going forward it is clear though, the back up goal tender position is on a short leash. We need that position to be a winning position with greater frequency in the last half of the season. Forsberg and Korpisalo will change positions with frequency until the winning starts to happen. That is part of the process.

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://email@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/01/searching-for-winning-backup.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-58908734510223881552017-01-09T19:51:00.000-05:002017-01-09T19:51:00.912-05:00Goal Tending Change

Anton Forsberg Called Up from Cleveland.

Early this morning Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch tweeted that Curtis McElhinney was going on waivers and that Anton Forsberg had been called up from the Cleveland Monsters. This move is the organization positioning itself for a playoff run. This is a good move at this time.

Curtis McElhinney performed admirably in his role by enabling the organization to develop the young goal tending talent that it had acquired. Said another way, Curtis was just good enough, at a very reasonable rate, for the CBJ to not have to go shopping for a backup goal tender, while their young goal tenders matured. His 2 year contract was a bargain for the organization, and any failure in that period had little to do with the backup goal tender. Curtis McElhinney and his professionalism allow the space for this move. Anton Forsberg is ready for this challenge and the time has come for him to rise to the challenge.

This is a changing of the guard at the back up position for the organization. Joonas Korpisalo gets the net full time in Cleveland and Forsberg comes up to the big show for the chance he earned in last year's Calder Cup Finals. He comes up hot, having been playing consistently for the Monsters. Joonas Korpisalo is at a point in his development where it is really important to get him into the net consistently. This move allows the action to happen. CMac will back up Joonas in the AHL.

Well done Curtis McElhinney!! You did an outstanding job for the organization. Your role is now to be the mentor in the AHL. To show the younger members of the organization how to be a pro, and prepare them for success at the next level. The set up in Cleveland is really nice Curtis. It's a good place to be.

Anton Forsberg. Now is your time. You are ready for this challenge. Best of luck to you as you make this jump. I will look forward to watching your efforts.

The organization has been able to take its time with the young goal tenders, but they are ripe to assume this role in the organization. We need a back up goal tender with a winning record in 20 games. It would be ideal for the backup to steal the net on some nights, by doing things like pitching a shutout. It is crucial that Bob get rested for the playoffs. He has worked hard to get us to this place of advantage, Number 1 in the NHL. He deserves an active support to optimize his net time.

Anton Forsberg knows Lucas Sedlak, Zach Werenski, and Josh Anderson. He should, he won a Championship with them last year. Forsberg is already part of this team. Good luck Anton!!

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/01/goal-tending-change.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-66304102949109319912017-01-07T23:58:00.000-05:002017-01-07T23:58:09.333-05:00That's Hockey

CMac didn't have the game he wanted tonight.

So if I ran the concept by you during the preseason that Curtis McElhinney would go undefeated from Thanksgiving through Christmas you would give me a bit of the old horse laugh. Ha ha ha ha ha. CMac won two games during The Streak (hereinafter capitalized, second longest in NHL history), but the notion that he would go undefeated is a bit of a reach.

So it was tonight, as the Rangers came back and beat the Blue Jackets 5-4 on a last second goal off a turn over, as the Jackets tried to win the game. Two lessons. One, when you are skating someone off the ice in the first 10 minutes of the game, you need more than 2 goals. The Jackets failure to get enough goals to put the game away in the first ten minutes cost them in the end. The second lesson is that 4 goals ought to be enough to get you the win. Coming into this year, I thought the Rangers were going to be bad. But in preseason I heard a lot of talk about how they had gotten much faster. That was in evidence tonight, as the Jackets did not handle the Rangers speed well. In the end, that cost them.

Tragically, this loss drops the Jackets to.,..first overall in the NHL. Obviously I mean that our position is good, but with half the season left it is like a 2 goal lead. You need to win the rest of the way if you want to make it count. To do that you have to play your back up goal tender. Tonight we did, after a long layoff. CMac had a hard time making the crucial stop, which is the kind of thing you see from a guy who doesn't see the net that often. So it goes. It is better to eat this one, and have a rested Bobrovsky for tomorrow's game against the Flyers. We have already beaten the Rangers once this year. They managed to draw even tonight. It is more important to establish something against Philadelphia.

Tonight was a really fun night for this old season ticket holder. Yes, I would have liked a different outcome. But the young and talented Blue Jackets squad continues to mature before our eyes. Like Torts says, it is not the mistakes, it is what you do to correct them that is important.

The Jackets made mistakes of aggression tonight that cost them the game. So it goes. Continue the aggressive play, because in the long run, it will take you somewhere.

GO JACKETS!!!
GO MONSTERS!!!Galloshttp://email@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/01/thats-hockey.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-56438268361609882632017-01-06T20:25:00.000-05:002017-01-06T20:25:12.656-05:00Processing the End of The Streak

The Columbus Blue Jackets win streak came to an end last night. Now that the frivolities are over, we can get back to focusing on the real prize, the playoffs and The Grail waiting at the end of them. As the players turn their attention from the heights to a more mundane existence, significant challenges await. A home back to back with powerful Metropolitan Division foes; and standings points that are available for the taking for those with a heart stout enough for the task.

The Jackets have shown that they have stout hearts, but they are unaccustomed to setbacks of late, and it is not a given that they will respond right away. I however, know exactly how I will respond when I see the team take the ice for tomorrow's game. I will be standing, clapping, and yelling my loudest to salute their accomplishment. I look forward to that moment. For their accomplishment is both rare and significant.

The second longest winning streak in NHL history, 16 consecutive wins. Last night's game is an excellent example of how hard it is to maintain a streak in the NHL, because on any given night even the worst team can beat you, or have a goalie stand on his head, and the Capitals are far from the worst team in the league. By the end of the streak, the Jackets were taking everyone's best shot, and doing remarkably well at dealing with that pressure. The Minnesota game, with two teams that had huge streaks on the line was a great game. The Edmonton win that gave them second place all to themselves was a solid, well played game.

They finally ran into a Capitals team that is a.) really good, and b.) had to be ecstatic to have something significant to play for in early January. When I heard Holtby had been pulled in the previous game, I knew the Jackets would have a hard time scoring. And it was the Capitals night. Good for them. That allowed the Caps to move into the win column in the four game series that the two teams play this year, the Jackets having won the previous two meetings. The Capitals will get a chance to visit Nationwide Arena in early April and see if they can pull the score even, with playoff positioning likely on the line.

And there is a reasonably high probability that, before this is all over, the Jackets and the Capitals will get to play an additional 7 game series to settle the score once and for all in 2016-17. So the Caps had their night last night. There are more games out there to be played and they will have to come through Nationwide Arena to get anywhere. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be looking forward to that game a lot.

But for now, the Rangers and the Flyers loom. The Jackets need to put the streak behind them, and play their best hockey this weekend. Curtis McElhinney needs to win a game this weekend and Bob needs to rebound. The Jackets sit first in the NHL, atop the Metropolitan Division in January. That's like a 2 goal lead. It's nice to have, but it doesn't mean that's how it is going to turn out in the end. You have to keep the pedal to the metal.

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!

Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/01/processing-end-of-streak.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-1861875594267787572017-01-03T22:45:00.000-05:002017-01-03T22:45:53.504-05:00Sixteen Straight. History!

Jackets Make History

We've always tried to take a bit of a historical perspective on this blog, as part of our effort to understand what is going on around us related to the Columbus Blue Jackets. I've got to tell you that writing the 'Definitive History' of the 2015-16 season was not a lot of fun. The task of that summertime perspective post is going to be a lot different this year, I can assure you.

Tonight the Columbus Blue Jackets staked their own place in the history of the NHL by winning their 16th consecutive game by prevailing against the Edmonton Oilers 3-1. In this they pass the Crosby-Malkin Penguins and the Mike Bossy Islanders, in their glory years, to seize the second longest winning streak of all time for their own. My attempt to put this into perspective is to say that this is a victory for team play. This team lacks the stars that define the competition in the winning streak game, but they definitely have a very strong team structure. This is the most beautiful thing in hockey. This is what attracted me to the game in the first place. Those lovable losers of the inaugural season knew they were going to be outmatched every night. They turned to effort and teamwork in an NHL season with the deck stacked against them, and accomplished some very good things.

John Tortorella and the players have forged a remarkably strong team structure over the last two years, heated to incandescent heat in the crucible of another NHL record, an 8 game losing streak. I keep waiting for this team to struggle with adversity, but I also keep waiting to see the type of adversity they experienced last year. The core of this team knows adversity like no one else. Another team scoring a goal on them late in a period does not constitute adversity for this group. The end result of that resilience was on full display in Nationwide Arena this evening.

Tonight was an incredibly awesome night for a season ticket holder. Incredibly fun, really good hockey, a raucous good time. Something that I am reveling in, it just feels so sweet. I am truly happy for the players, for they have earned these distinctions. And yet, they have it right, they haven't done anything yet.

The Jackets own the second longest winning streak in NHL history, in this year of 2017 where we celebrate 100 years of NHL hockey. They continue to chase the Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux Penguins for that overall title. It should be interesting to see how this turns out. A team chasing two of the biggest stars the game has known. The hockey gods might like this.

Tonight, as always, I am proud to be a Blue Jackets fan. But tonight is somewhat different in that our team has set a bar that only one other team has achieved. My recommendation for those who choose to pursue this goal in the future is to bring a solid team structure. You are going to need it.

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://email@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2017/01/sixteen-straight-history.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-69968779566248001712016-12-31T09:35:00.002-05:002016-12-31T09:35:52.562-05:00Rare Air

Lucas Sedlak

Tonight the Columbus Blue Jackets participate in hockey history, on the other side of the win-loss column. Last year they participated in the loss column, setting an NHL record for opening the season with futility. This year, they are participating in the win column.

Tonight the Blue Jackets, sporting a 14 game winning streak, play the Wild, sporting a 12 game winning streak. Both teams have achieved significant accomplishments. This is the first time (according to Elias Sports Bureau) that North American professional sports teams that both have at least a 12 game winning streak will play each other. Hockey history on the eve of the hockey centenial.

Ironically, at this historic moment, the Jackets would be best served by maintaining their one game at a time approach. But I also see this as a precursor to the pressure of the playoffs, the need to win or go home, without having to go home. So win or lose it will be valuable experience for our cadre of young Blue Jackets. Ironically, our cadre of young Blue Jackets has great experience in playing with this kind of pressure, albeit in the AHL in their march to a Calder Cup Championship. This is where Zach Werenski comes in. Much as he made a good Lake Erie Monsters team a great team, he is having the same affect on the Blue Jackets. While the Wild and Bruce Boudreau, will have done their scouting, this is not a Blue Jackets team that they are used to playing. It should be interesting to see how this plays out.

I understand from the reporters at The Dispatch that Torts wants his guys to revel in this game. He has the right of it. Much more hockey to be played, but you don't get to do this kind of thing, and the players should find a sense of joy in it. Why? Because you need that to have a long term sustainability for the players. If you have your head down grinding towards the prize and all of a sudden it ends, you have to cope with that, win or lose. Tortorella has taken pains to make sure this team is on a sustainable path, limiting rink time to set them up for the grind of the season that lies ahead. To me, wanting his team to revel in this game is an extension of that path.

What, 47 more games to go? This is just one game, but a glimpse at the pressure to come. It is indeed, something for players, fans, and coaches to revel in, and enjoy to the fullest. At its very worst, it is good experience for our young players. I certainly plan on enjoying this game, and I am not afraid of them losing. The CBJ have already staked themselves out a piece of history, and a loss can't take that away from them.

On the other hand, win a few more games and steal a record from a Divisional rival (need an 18 win streak to steal the overall record from the Pens), just to piss them off. :-). That's something worth winning tonight's game for!!!

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!

Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2016/12/rare-air.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-20465789708817576212016-12-27T23:09:00.001-05:002016-12-27T23:09:54.729-05:00Pushing, Being Pushed, Hanging on for Thirteen in a Row

Matt Calvert Scored a Critical Goal

It all started with a cross check/boarding on Scott Hartnell that wasn't called after 2 minutes had gone by in the first period. Hartnell laid there, unsuccessfully trying to draw the call. He got up and started slowly up the ice. Meanwhile, out by the blue line, his line mates had conspired to thwart Boston's breakout, and Lucas Sedlak walked the blue line and kept the puck in the offensive zone. This put Hartnell in front of the play, on the door step of the goal, instead of behind the play, and Sedlak hit him for the easy goal.

Five minutes later, with the Blue Jackets power play expired, Hartnell laid a bunny pass out to Seth Jones from behind the net, and the big defenseman leaned into it for the second goal. Less than a minute later, Matt Calvert intercepted a break out pass from Boston, charged the net, shot, collected his own rebound and shot again for the third goal. Before 10 minutes had gone by, the Jackets had a handy 3 goal lead, and the third consecutive sellout crowd was rocking.

This, it seems, annoyed Boston. And they pushed back hard. Before three more minutes had passed, Boston had scored two goals to bring the score to 3-2 with 8 minutes remaining in the first period. The Blue Jackets rallied to stop the bleeding, but the majority of the next 30 minutes of hockey were dominated by Boston, and the doubled up the Blue Jackets on shots on goal. Finally, late in the second period, Boston scored to tie the game, and the teams entered the third period with the score knotted at 3 goals apiece.

In the third period the game tightened up, and the Blue Jackets finally broke through when Nick Foligno scored a power play tally of the greasiest variety, whacking twice at the puck to bounce it over Rask's goalie pads and into the net. Then the Jackets tightened up their play, effectively killed a late penalty, survived the 6 on 5 with the goal tender pulled and salted away their thirteenth win in a row. It warn't a purty one, but two more points in the bank.

After the game the coach opined that the game film would be burned, and that they needed to move on. I think he has the right of it. The only teachable thing would be to point out that they gathered themselves and held on under adversity. They had difficulty dealing with Boston's size and strength, but the stuck with it, buckled down, and fought their way through it. The combination of the power play and Bobrovsky sealed the win, and now they go to Winnipeg.

Forty-nine games left to play. Fifty-two points in the bank. At this point Tortorella is right, is all they should be concentrating on is how well they play their game, and let the wins and losses sort themselves out down the stretch. The CBJ keep their hold on first place for another day, and move on.

It was totally awesome to see the full barn tonight. There was a really great turn out, and better yet, the Jackets won. So the Jackets finish their 2016-17 series with Boston, losing 2 games to 1. It will be good to not have to play them down the stretch. We have plenty of other Metro games coming up. But for now, out west, and Winnipeg, and then Minnesota, who has a 10 game win streak of their own. There will be fun hockey to watch!!

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://email@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2016/12/pushing-being-pushed-hanging-on-for.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-79863144460524936462016-12-24T14:25:00.000-05:002016-12-24T14:25:47.121-05:00First Place for the Holidays

The Columbus Blue Jackets finished the run up to the Christmas Holiday with a bang, beating the second Eastern Conference Leader in two nights by holding on over the Montreal Canadiens 2-1. It was kind of an ugly game, but winning ugly games is what gives you 50 points by Christmas. It also gives you first place in the NHL over the Christmas break, and even the most fervent naysayer can take that away from them.

The defending Stanley Cup Champion Penguins made it tough, by taking out their frustration on the Devils, to make sure that the Jackets needed to win if they wanted to be number 1. But the CBJ took care of business, so here we sit for a couple of days, with an opportunity to bask in their early season achievement. But there are still 50 games yet to be played, and next up is a Boston team that is responsible for 2 of our 5 losses. So things get interesting quick after the break, because 3 games out the CBJ face a Minnesota Wild team with a 10 game winning streak of their own. And, the Jackets will need to respond to the league wide bump in intensity that happens after the holidays

A word to Jackets fans frustrated by the 'Jackets will come to earth club'. First of all 'they' may be correct. Or, they may not be. But a certain amount of their logic has a fundamental flaw. Fully one third of the Blue Jackets defense is not represented in the statistical data bases that are used to conclude that the Jackets will regress. If you want to make conclusions about Zach Werenski, you need to be projecting NCAA data up to the NHL level. I don't think anyone is doing that. More importantly, you need to be able to project AHL playoff data to the NHL, and I don't think anyone is doing that. Finally, if you want to determine what average Marcus Nutivaara will regress to, you need an extensive data base from the Finnish professional leagues extrapolated to the NHL. No one has that.

Yet this is the one third of our defensive pairings that transform a relatively slow, defensively oriented D-corps of 2015-16 to the swift, puck moving group of 2016-17. Zach Werenski's contribution is significant enough that he has pushed Ryan Murray out of the top pair. Marcus Nutivaara's contribution is significant enough to that it has pushed Ryan Murray to his backhand for the first time in his career. This is not a bad reflection on Ryan Murray, it is a reflection of the magnitude of the impact these other players have had. Zach Werenski basically jumped everyone on the depth chart. Marcus Nutivaara jumped some pretty good defensemen to snatch the 6th spot from Dalton Prout. And no one has any data to accurately project what these players can do for this year. By next year, yes.

'They' repeatedly say that the power play will come back to earth. No database exists that can tell you what the 'average' performance of a Zach Werenski lead 1-3-1 power play looks like, and anyone who tells you that it can't run at 25% success rate forever is just guessing. Of course, anyone who tells you it CAN run a 25% efficiency is just guessing too. That's why you play the games.

Or, as the DKM folks will tell you, it's :

Unsustainable

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTETS!!

Galloshttp://email@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2016/12/first-place-for-holidays.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-25499888006684112362016-12-22T23:29:00.000-05:002016-12-22T23:29:09.247-05:00First Place

Hartnell Hatty

Whoa. The first game in a best of eleven (4 regular season, 7 playoff) went the Blue Jackets way, as they pulled away to a 7-1 win, answering Sidney Crosby's goal when he was loose in the blue paint (bad idea) with 7 (seven) goals to please a partisan home crowd immensely. I found myself being apologetic to a Pens fan. Really? I thought your team would show up in the third period.

For the moment, before the New Year, the Blue Jackets sit atop the NHL, in first place. It is not necessary, or likely, for this state to remain. But it is a huge compliment to the players and their ability to play as a team, to be in this situation.

I love Scott Hartnell as a player. I realize the challenges he faces as an older player. But I thought I would never see the day when he would beat someone wide, yet we saw that tonight for a goal that opened the flood gates. Wow Hartsey. Just wow. That stuff makes me feel awesome as a fan. I can't imagine that the Penguins game plan sounded like " we know Hartsey will have a hat trick, but we'll get them in the ...."

No. The third period was perplexing. As a team, we should exult in a curb stomping of a high powered opponent, but we need to recognize that they will not collapse late like they did tonight, every time we play them. They will represent themselves better in the future. And those will be really fun games.

I had an outrageously good time tonight. This was an example of amazingly entertaining hockey. Strangely, Pittsburgh seemed unable to sustain that level. This is not what I expected, and the Jackets capitalized on it. I expect Pittsburgh to sustain their level of hockey excellence for a longer period in their next tilt. The result of that, of course, remains in doubt.

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!

Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2016/12/first-place.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-18543622135422610022016-12-20T23:02:00.001-05:002016-12-20T23:02:57.795-05:00Cam Takes Home the Two Points

Cam Atkinson with 2 goals and a shoot out goal wins tonight.
Jeff Carter doesn't.

Should the Blue Jackets fans ever achieve the discipline necessary to not boo Jeff Carter every time he touches the puck, the Jackets will beat the Kings routinely. There are few things on this planet that will actually engage the superb talent of Jeff Carter. Getting booed is certainly one of them.

Make no mistake. Jeff Carter is a better hockey player than Sidney Crosby. If he chose to be better than Sid, he would be. But he doesn't. It's part of his make up. Being superb at hockey has always come easy for Jeff Carter, so why ramp it up now? And who's to argue? He's got two Cup rings, same as Crosby. It's early in the season, the Kings will ramp it up later. It's who they are. It's doubtful that they will miss the point they left on the table tonight.

The Blue Jackets, however, countered with Cam Atkinson, who is certainly maximizing his talent. He scored two goals like Carter, as well as the shoot out goal, like Carter. But Cam and his mates came away with the two points tonight because the back up goal tender, Curtis McElhinney, played so well, and won the game in the shoot out to boot.

At the end of the day, the Jackets won their franchise record tenth straight game against the Kings, though they did surrender the charity point. This sets up a cataclysmic clash of Metropolitan Division leaders on Thursday, as the Pittsburgh Penguins come to town, fresh off of a curb stomping of the otherwise Division leading New York Rangers.

In the greater context of things, I am fascinated to see how the Blue Jackets perform against the defending Cup Champions. This is an early season measuring stick game for the group, and we will learn a lot about where things stand no matter how this game turns out. This is the NHL. The opposition will make sure you don't win too many games in a row. So, its hard to see how things will turn out on Thursday. On the other hand, it is really going to be a fantastic game to be at, and the atmosphere will be crazy. I am really looking forward to the whole thing.

Since the Jackets started playing so well, I have had the upcoming game circled as one to measure their ability to respond to adversity. I'm pretty sure the Pens plan on applying some adversity. I'm also pretty sure that the Pens are not planning on the response I think they are going to get. Which should lead to an interesting evening.

The Jackets split the season series with the Kings by winning tonight in a shoot out, 3-2 for their tenth (10th) straight win. How awesome is that?

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2016/12/cam-takes-home-two-points.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-64565443393760123362016-12-17T10:20:00.000-05:002016-12-17T10:20:29.118-05:00Defense Wins...Well, Let's Not Get Ahead of Ourselves

Wennberg Cashes in his Lady Byng Trophy Chances

The Blue Jackets pushed their customary third period dominance (did I just say that?) up to the second period last night in Calgary to pull away from the Flames for a 4-1 win. Going into the game, the Blue Jackets had a Team Average Goals Against of 2.17, which is good for second or third in the NHL. That number came down with last night's result.

And the Jackets put their defensive prowess on display in the third period last night. It wasn't how they wanted to play, but it was how they needed to play. They showed the 'stick with it' part of their character that Tortorella loves, and won their eighth straight game.

Now let's be frank. Or, should I say, Bob, because it all starts with the goal tender. Bob's post game comments all seem to have one theme, 'we work together, we win together' and they are really putting that together as a group. There isn't just one defensive pairing that is getting the job done (see RE: Chicago), all the pairings are very solid. Probably the biggest weakness of the group is the fact that Ryan Murray is only about a month and a half into the 'hey, you can play on the backhand in this league' experiment. He is definitely getting better as he gains experience on the right side. So if your weakest pair has a fleet footed Finn and a second overall pick on his backhand, you are in really good shape. And the average of Goals Against shows that. David Savard seems to be finding that offensive knack he showed two years ago, and now that he is appropriately slotted as second pairing with Jack Johnson, they are thriving. Jack is having a great year, which I am really pleased to see, as he takes a lot of guff from people.

Our forwards as a group have always had a strong streak of defensive responsibility, and they don't mind buckling down in the defensive zone and getting to work. And, they do a good job with getting the puck out of the defensive zone by supporting each other effectively, or using their speed to skate it out of the D zone. Once they get across the red line, they have found scoring throughout the lineup. These characteristics are sustainable over the long term, even though one would expect the occasional blip (see commentary from J F H Jacket on last post).

I'd like to see CMac get the net against Vancouver. That is not a commentary on Vancouver, but it would give Bob a solid three days of rest before a stout week at home against teams that are leading the league. I am definitely worried about the Kings game the day after travel from the West Coast. Jeff Carter called out his mates for being fra-gee-lay earlier on their road trip, and I don't think Drew Doughty likes being called fra-gee-lay. They beat the Pens last night 1-0. That Kings game is one where the 5th line can't be afraid of losing a game. We need to come with a purpose and make sure that it is a tough atmosphere on the Kings. Please don't boo Jeff Carter. It makes him play better. Time to move past that. Strap it on and come to cheer for our guys. They have earned it.

The Jackets are on pace for 124 points right now. That probably isn't going to happen. That implies that they will lose some games in the latter two thirds of the season. But if they stick with the way they are playing, they won't lose too many.

Vancouver at 4:00 pm tomorrow afternoon. Should be a good one!

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2016/12/defense-winswell-lets-not-get-ahead-of.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796383459721793585.post-41199850055285357422016-12-14T21:26:00.002-05:002016-12-14T21:26:52.656-05:00That Old Time Feeling

Can't talk old time till you talk Hartnell

It has been awhile since my cats have feared hockey on TV. Last year they learned to sleep peacefully through western road trips, with the occasional comments of 'hmmm, nice' or 'that's unfortunate'. Those peaceful evenings are gone, however, and when Calvert, Anderson and Karlsson combine for a crucial third period goal, they are subjected to primal scream therapy. This makes them nervous when hockey games are on the tube, and they slink away to more favorable environs. Such is life with this year's CBJ.

Formerly, when I was a tad less jaded than I am today, I could generate that visceral scream of joy with a Blue Jackets road goal. The last couple of years, that simply hasn't been there, particularly last year. The emotional commitment wasn't there. That has changed with this year's team, as they skate in waves at the hapless opposition, and there is no containing the joy associated with those third period goals. That is a gift that I celebrate, and appreciate, and have no intention of trying to contain as the season moves along. Perhaps the future is full of woe. You never know. But I will celebrate that as much as their successes, because the impact of woe upon this team seems to be to harden them.

Ever since they walked all over Tampa Bay in Nationwide Arena, I have looked for how they would respond to adversity. Pleasingly, they continually respond to adversity by identifying faults in their own game, and skating hard to correct them. Seth Jones reaction to the erroneous 4 minute penalty assessed to Jack Johnson was 'maybe that will get us skating'. This is healthy self assessment by the players, and both the players and the coaching staff deserve credit for their ability to make that kind of assessment.

I hear from the national pundits that the Jackets are merely lucky, and their PDO will regress, which will bring them woe. I don't hear a lot about limiting your opponent to only one goal, I just hear how they will soon regress. And indeed, this is possible. But these kind of statistics have their basis in comparison of large groups of data, and the relationships between shots and success are developed on full seasons of data. Comparing a half of a season to a long term average is dangerously cavalier with this type of data (see Behind the Net), yet we commonly see comparison on a game to game basis.

I watch all the Jackets games. I see how tenacious they are on defense. I see how selective they are on their shots. Perhaps its luck, but when you have your toes in the blue paint, Nick Foligno, your scoring percentage may well be high. If that is your shot selection, it is unlikely to regress significantly. You have to get to the dirty areas to take the shot, if you don't make it there, the shot will not necessarily be taken. It is okay to look at the underlying play, but that takes effort that is difficult to apply. So people look at numbers, and make conclusions. So it goes. Often they will be right. But not always.

Strangely, the national media do not seem to recognize that 3 key players from last years Calder Cup Champion Lake Erie Monsters (now Cleveland) made the NHL team this year, and they bring the same characteristics of play that were successful in the AHL to their NHL game. Lead by Zach Werensky, Josh Anderson and Lucas Sedlak have brought dynamic games to the NHL in their rookie seasons. There is no statistic available for these guys to regress to, because they are establishing those boundaries this year with their play. And there are a lot of positives about their collective play, which seems strikingly similar to their play during Lake Erie's Calder Cup run. So Sedlak is regressing to his average by scoring a couple of goals, his first in the NHL. In short, there is no average for this team to regress to that is a valid comparison. Last year's data is simply not applicable.

We will learn a lot more about this team over the next 8 days, when they play 5 games. At the end of that time is a back to back against Pittsburgh, defending Cup Champs, and a surly Montreal squad that is atop the NHL except for the setback in Nationwide Arena. Perhaps the Jackets will buckle under the pressure. Perhaps they will lose a game or two. But I don't really feel that concerned about that potential eventuality.

My greatest area of concern for this squad is the goal tending. Bobrovsky has been superlative, but over the next week the Jackets need McElhinney to win two games. We will see what Torts does, but I would like to see CMac go against Vancouver and the Kings, which would give Bob a 4 day rest for the crucial back to back. But that is Torts call, and I will ride with his decision.

Calgary Flames tomorrow night, another team on a 5-6 game winning streak. It will be interesting to see how our guys face the adversity of the upcoming week. Based on their performance so far this year, they will be fine.

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!Galloshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2016/12/that-old-time-feeling.html