Final Score: Avalanche 3 – Blue Jackets 2
Game Summary
The Blue Jackets played their best game of the season last night. They absolutely dominated the Avalanche in every area of the game except for goals. Semyon Varlamov was doing his best Sergei Bobrovsky impression and stole two points for Colorado.
The Jackets coming off a hard fought win against Washington on Sunday, played about as perfect as a back to back as one could want. They controlled play outshooting the Avs 42-27, making things much easier on back-up goalie Curtis McElhinney, who received the start. The 42 shots were the most the Blue Jackets have had in a game this season and the 27 allowed were tied for the third fewest.
At 5 on 5 the Jackets were even more dominant. They had a 63.71% Corsi and had 65.38% of the scoring chances. They also had a remarkable 72.22% of the high danger scoring chances, limiting the Avalanche to just five high danger chances. At even strength the Jackets attempted 91 shots, which are the most by a team this season and the most by a team since 2014-15.
Helping the Jackets to this dominate effort was the return of top defencemen Seth Jones. Jones was back well ahead of schedule from the hairline fracture in his foot, and watching him play last night he has not missed a beat. He looked healthy and did not look like he was rushed back.
Jones had a few rushes like that; his foot speed has clearly not been affected by the injury. He was back on the top pair alongside Zach Werenski, taking on Colorado’s top line, featuring Nathan MacKinnon. MacKinnon played most of his 5 on 5 minutes against the Jackets top pair and was held to about a 40% Corsi.
With Jones back the defensive pairs were shuffled again. Scott Harrington was scratched, so Ryan Murray played his off-side on the third pair alongside Markus Nutivaara. Jack Johnson and David Savard were paired together as the second pair. Each pair was really strong, with each player having a Corsi over 60% with the exception of Johnson who was at 58.70%. I thought Murray looked really good in particular. He much more involved in the game, jumping into the play more and being more active with the puck.
Offensively Cam Atkinson led the way scoring both goals. He now has seven on the season, tying him for the team lead. The first goal Cam was trying to send a cross crease pass to Brandon Dubinsky, the puck bounced around and went off MacKinnon’s stick and into the net.
The second goal was much more dramatic. For the second game in a row the Blue Jackets scored with under a minute left. This time they waited until there were only six seconds left.
Cam’s shot gets tipped, but it’s still placed in the perfect spot to beat Varlamov upstairs. This was not a power play goal but it is another goal for the Jackets with the man advantage. I was really impressed with the 6 on 5 set up the Jackets had. They went with five forwards and Weresnki. They do such a good job at getting shots and getting rebounds back, making it so difficult for the opposition.
Stat of the Night
Stats courtesy of
Natural Stat Trick and
Hockey-Reference.
You can follow me on Twitter
@PaulBerthelot
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»