Todd Richards finally got the full 60-minute effort he has been clamoring for from his team last night as Columbus dominated the Edmonton Oilers virtually from the opening faceoff. The Jackets outshot Edmonton 40 – 14 on the evening and possessed the puck for the vast majority of the contest in the offensive zone yet couldn’t muster more than a single goal. Edmonton, meanwhile, capitalized on a couple of turnovers converting both into goals and added an empty-netter resulting in a final tally of 3 – 1.
Aside from the couple of Columbus turnovers the story of the game was Edmonton goalie Devyn Dubnyk. Dubnyk stopped 39 of the 40 shots against and impressed me with his rebound control, lateral movement and ability to remain in good position after making the initial save. It was my first time closely watching the 6’6” former first-round pick and he looks like a solid #1 to me.
The Jackets again allowed the first goal of the game (more on that later) when James Wisniewski, in his first game back since suffering a concussion, turned the puck over in his defensive zone. Chasing the puck into the zone Wisniewski had the option of banking it off the end boards to his defense partner or turning and firing it up the middle of the ice to spring the counter-attack. He chose the latter and Taylor Hall got his stick on the pass. The puck deflected toward Sergei Bobrovsky who elected to play the puck to his defense rather than smother it for a faceoff. He shot the biscuit directly into Hall and the puck redirected towards the Columbus goal. Bobrovsky was able to scramble back and knock the puck down but it dropped down in the crease and Ales Hemsky was able to lift it up over Bobrovsky for the goal.
The game would remain scoreless due primarily to the stellar play of Dubnyk until about midway through the final frame when RJ Umberger finally potted his first of the year tying the game at one.
The Jackets continued their offensive onslaught, hitting two posts after tying the game up and were poised to take the lead when they were awarded a late PP opportunity. Unfortunately for Columbus it was Edmonton who took advantage of the chance.
With Edmonton trying to clear the puck up the RW, Jack Johnson failed to use his body to seal off the boards and instead tried to poke the puck further into the zone. Sam Gagner took the puck and went by Johnson on a two-on-one with Magnus Paajarvi. Gagner fed Paajarvi on the RW and he beat Bobrovsky clean with what would be the game-winner.
Gagner added an empty-netter to seal the win for Edmonton.
Here are some key numbers for the Blue Jackets:
40 – Sunday was the first time all year the club reached the 40-shot plateau and it’s only the third time all season they’ve recorded at least 30. That’s indicative of the Jackets simply not possessing the puck enough and not establishing their forecheck. If they do a better job in those two areas there will be more 30+ shot nights and consequently the goals should start to follow.
39 – Conversely, Dubnyk stopped 39 of the 40 Blue Jacket shots in a terrific effort for Edmonton. Here’s what his head coach, Ralph Krueger had to say about Dubnyk’s performance.
"You need a goalie to steal one for you once in a while. We were flat as a team and he was world-class."
There isn’t much more that needs to be said other than Columbus needs either one or both of its goalies to have some games like that.
3 – That’s how many times in 12 games this year that Columbus has scored the first goal. Strangely enough they’ve lost each of those contests. Nonetheless it’s difficult to constantly have to play from behind and the Blue Jackets are doing that way too much this year. It’s imperative that when they come out with a solid first period effort that they are rewarded with the first goal and that isn’t happening enough.
2 – That’s what their $12MM investment in Umberger, Brandon Dubinsky and Nick Foligno has yielded the Jackets in terms of goals this season. They’ve also combined for just 8 assists and are a -9 overall. That's not a good ROI for the Blue Jackets.
2.0 – Not to be confused with simply 2, 2.0 is how many goals the Jackets score on average per game. That’s tied with Nashville for the fewest in the NHL. A team isn’t going to win very many games scoring two goals per.
-15 – Yes, that is a minus in front of the 15 and that is the Jackets goal differential on the season. That mark is also tied for the worst in the NHL, this time with Florida. Essentially the Jackets are allowing 3.25 goals a game and averaging just two. I don’t think I need to describe how ugly that figure is.
I apologize; I don’t have time for a proper preview of the Sharks as I am swamped at work. Suffice it to say that San Jose is a very good team with lots of weapons up front. It will be a difficult test tonight for sure as the Jackets wrap up their season-long six-game homestand against the Sharks tonight.
Trivia Time:
On August 29, 2001, the Jackets acquired rugged RW Grant Marshall from Dallas in exchange for a second-round draft choice in 2003. Marshall would pot 23 goals and record 61 points in 147 games with Columbus before being traded at the 2003 deadline to New Jersey for a fourth-round pick in, ironically that same entry draft of 2003. The question for you is: Who did Dallas end up selecting with that second-rounder that originally belonged to Columbus in 2003?
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Also, if you are watching the game this evening at home feel free to check into the comments section. I'll be around to talk Jackets/Sharks with you.
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