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Monsters Take Commanding 3-0 Series Lead |
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Every Monsters post I do I am more and more impressed with this team. I expected this to be a much closer series than it has been.
The Monsters won both games on the road relatively easily with scores of 4-1 and 5-3 respectively. Daniel Zaar who may be one of the more underrated prospects in the Jackets system has been on fire in the Finals. He scored twice in the opener, had a goal and an assist in game 2 and had this snipe in game three:
He has arguably the best shot in the system and when he can get open like that especially on the power play he's deadly. His seven goals rank 9th in the playoffs.
One player who may not agree with Zaar having the best shot would be Oliver Bjorkstrand. Bjorkstrand had just a single assist in game one, before exploding for two goals in both game two and game three. He now has 15 points in 16 games which leads the team and is third in the AHL. He's also been very clutch for the Monsters with five game winning goals including the overtime winner last night.
If the Jackets are to have success next season they need players like Zaar and Bjorkstrand in the NHL. That would go a long way to addressing the bottom six depth that plagued the team this past season. The Jackets don’t have enough high end talent to carry a fourth line of guys like Jared Boll and David Clarkson. This has to be a team that rolls four skilled lines making them difficult to match up against. The NHL is becoming more and more a speed and skill league and the Pittsburgh Penguins have shown what a team of those players can do.
Another key player for the Jackets next season is going to be Zach Werenski. He has continued to get everyone excited for his arrival to Columbus. He had a goal in game two and assisted on the overtime winner in game three. Those two points give him 13 in the playoffs and put him among some elite company.
Even more impressive is Werenski is the first U19 AHL player to score double digit points in the playoffs since Eldred Koubussen had 10 in 1943-44 for the Buffalo Bisons.
Werenski is just what the Jackets need: a skilled puck moving defencemen. The Jackets sorely lacked offense from their backend last season, and the hope is that Werenski can be that guy. Ideally it would be best to shelter him on the bottom pair to start, help him get adjusted to the NHL game. Seeing how fast he's adjusted to the AHL game it may not take very long for him to adjust to the NHL. Him with Seth Jones and Ryan Murray give the Jackets a much more formidable d-core going forward.
Due to arena availability there were be a four day break between games. Game 4 goes Saturday at 7pm.
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@PaulBerthelot
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
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