Final Score: Blue Jackets 3 – Avalanche 2
Game Summary
Well that was fun wasn’t it? The Jackets carried the momentum from November and started December off right with a win. The Jackets came out strong with two goals in the first period. The Avs got back into the game in the second scoring two of their own, but Boone Jenner would score in the third to re-take the lead and get the Jackets the win. With the win the Blue Jackets move into third place in the Metro just one point back of Pittsburgh with two games in hand for second place, and just three points back of the Rangers for first with three games in hand.
The Jackets play during this run they have been on has been impressive. They have been playing fast exciting hockey and just crushing teams each and every night. They finally have four skilled lines, and each one is a threat to score when they step on the ice. The Jackets had very strong 60.26% Corsi at 5 on 5 this game, their ninth straight game at or above 50%. They were having their way with the Avalanche, controlling 64.71% of the scoring chances and a whopping 75% of the high danger chances. The Jackets were at their best in the third period, where they were pushing to get a goal to win. They controlled 70.59% of the shot attempts not allowing Colorado any opportunities at all.
Individually Brandon Saad led the way with a goal and an assist. He scored the Jackets first goal, on a great feed from Scott Hartnell, who was behind the net.
This goal is practically identical to the one Josh Anderson scored on Tuesday against Tampa. Hartnell gets the puck down low, Saad goes to the front of the net, and Brandon Dubinsky goes to the net to box out defenders to give Saad space. Hartnell feeds a perfect pass to Saad, who can has plenty of space because of Dubinsky, and one-times it in.
The second goal the Jackets scored was a thing of beauty. Saad gets the puck in own zone and races up the wing, with Nick Foligno on the opposite side, Seth Jones sees this and alertly joins the rush, creating a three on one. From there it’s a nice three way passing sequence and Foligno buries the tick-tak-toe play for his ninth goal of the season.
This goal is all built around the Jackets speed. Saad displays great speed on the breakout and then Jones with even more speed to create an odd man rush.
Finally Boone Jenner scored a well-deserved goal in the third, which ended up as the game winner. The Jackets would not be denied on this play. It starts with Dubinsky losing the puck, it ends up on Tyson Barrie’s stick, who Cam Atkinson is all over, Barrie tries to get away from Atkinson but Dubinsky is right there to throw a hit. Dubinsky centre’s the puck but it’s right to Fedor Tyutin, he bobbles it, and Atkinson is again right there and gets it back towards the centre of the ice, this time Jenner is barrelling in and manages to get his stick on it before he ends up crashing into the net.
This is another element as to why the Jackets have been so good. This goal is a complete 360 from the second one. This one is all about being tenacious on the puck, much more crashing and banging. The Jackets can beat teams in so many ways, whether it’s with speed as we saw above or with strong on the puck pressure as we saw with this goal.
Stat of the Night
Stats courtesy of
Natural Stat Trick and
Hockey-Reference.
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