Final Score: Blue Jackets 3 – Blackhawks 2
Game Summary
There will be no 0-8-0 start this year. The Blue Jackets picked up their first win of the season defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. They are the last team to pick up their first win, but granted have played one less game than the rest of the league.
Lukas Sedlak drew into the line-up, becoming the third rookie to make their NHL debut this season in Columbus. He was listed as the third line centre between Oliver Bjorkstrand and Boone Jenner, but that line ended up playing the least of all the forward lines, just a little over eight minutes. Sedlak was in the line-up for Sam Gagner who was a healthy scratch. Back in the line-up was Ryan Murray. Murray missed the previous game with a lower body injury. He did not last long only playing in 4:38, as he had to leave the game with an injury. This time with an upper body injury, which he appeared to suffer on this play:
Losing Murray for any length of time would be a major blow to this team. He is a large part of the defence group, and it will be really tough to replace him. He is not traveling with the team and will miss the game Saturday in Dallas.
Who the Jackets do have, is Zach Werenski who continues to be on fire to start his NHL career. He was the key contributor on offense, picking up a goal and an assist on the power play. Both points came from his seeing-eye shot. He gets it through traffic and on net so routinely it looks easy for him.
The Blue Jackets had a fantastic first period, capped off by that Werenski goal. In the pre-game John Tortorella stressed that he wanted the team to have somewhere between 60-65 shot attempts per game. In the first period the Jackets were on pace with 20 shots for and just nine against. They put 17 shots on goal in the first and handled Chicago well, keeping them in their own end. Brandon Saad was a large contributor to this. He finished the first period with six shots, a few of which were high quality chances. He was flying out there against his old team. He finished the game with seven shots, and was on the ice for 10 scoring chances for, versus just four against, the highest ratio on the team.
Chicago tied it up in the second period, it what was a total breakdown by the Jackets defensively. The puck came around the net to Boone Jenner. Jenner made a weak play on it, allowing Tyler Motte to get it and pass it to Jonathan Toews who was alone in front of the net. Bobrovsky stopped the initial chance, but Motte was able to net to the net uncovered and bury the rebound. This goal was a mess all around. Werenski was too far up, Boone made a bad play, and Savard was nowhere to found, before Toews got the puck. Werenski is still learning so he gets somewhat of a pass here, but the other two no way, they are two of experienced players on the team, they need to be better. From this point on Boone’s ice time was way down, and the reason he played the second few minutes, among forwards.
The Jackets scored twice more in the second and had a two goal lead entering the third. From there they went into that defensive shell Jackets fans are all too familiar with, and just held on. Sergei Bobrovsky had to be sharp, stopping 10 of 11 shots in the third. The Jackets had 20 shot attempts in the first period; they had 22 the rest of the game, including just eight in the third. They need to be better; they cannot do that every time they get a lead and hope to be successful. It’s great to have Bob but he needs help. Chicago is a good team, and they have the talent to take over games, but this is just far too common for the Jackets. They get a lead and sit back. Hopefully Tortorella can change that mindset.
The player who played well the whole game was Alexander Wennberg. Wennberg was tasked with going up against Jonathan Toews. Wennberg was not only up to the task he shut Toews and his line down. Wennberg played 9:01 at 5 on 5 against Toews and had a 58.33 Corsi against him. He forced Toews his own end and made him play defence. Wennberg was also out on the ice at the end of the game with the Jackets nursing a one goal lead. He had himself a very impressive defensive game. He’s scoring a point per game, and playing a strong shutdown game, Wennberg is slowly emerging as the number one centre on this team.
After the game Oliver Bjorkstrand was sent down to Cleveland, and Sonny Milano was recalled.
Bjorkstrand had a slow start to the season, at times looking invisible on the ice. I think the team wants to give him a chance to go down and get his form back. Hopefully Milano can come up and be successful.
Stat of the Night
Stats courtesy of
Natural Stat Trick and
Hockey-Reference.
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