Final Score: Blue Jackets 4 – Hurricanes 1
Game Summary
The Jackets tied up this mini three game series against the Hurricanes with a 4-1 win. Sergei Bobrovsky was back from illness and received the start. He played quite well stopping 24 of 25 shots for a .960 save percentage. The Blue Jackets offense was provided mostly by one line, a line that in particular has performed well below expectations.
The Boone Jenner, Brandon Dubinsky, Cam Atkinson line entered the season as the top line for Columbus. The struggled and were quickly surpassed by the Brandon Saad, Alexander Wennberg, Nick Foligno line. Tonight those three finished as the three best possession players on the team with Atkinson at 78.95% Corsi, Dubinsky at 76.92% and Jenner at 73.91%. The three combined for nine shots on goal and carried the offensive load scoring three goals.
Jenner got everything started when he tied the game with this fantastic goal.
This is a great individual effort by Boone. He gets the puck along the wall, muscles off the defender and takes the puck right to the front of the net. From there he just waits out Cam Ward and slides the puck though the smallest gap and into the net. That is Jenner’s ninth of the season and his third straight game with a goal. Jenner hasn’t been scoring like he was last year when he hit 30. His shooting percentage is down to 8.9% the lowest of his career but the bigger reason is his lack of power play time. He scored nine power play goals last season, this year zero.
Brandon Dubinsky scored the next two goals. Neither of which were as impressive as Jenner’s goal, both were just seeing-eye shots.
The first one Ward will want back. He isn’t screened the puck isn’t deflected, it just beat him. Not to take anything away from Dubinsky, he takes a good shot, but that’s one I think most goalies in the league should save. The second goal, Ward just doesn’t see it at all. There are plenty of bodies in front and somehow the puck doesn’t get tipped or change directions. The puck stays up and goes in top shelf. Those were just Dubinsky’s fourth and fifth goals of the season. He has just 18 points on the season and is easily been the most disappointing player.
Unlike with Jenner this is not a power play or shooting percentage issue. Dubinsky has three power play points on the year, and had just 10 last season. He doesn’t rely on the power play to bump his offensive numbers. His shooting percentage is at 8.9%, similar to the 10.8% he had last year and right around his career average of 9.5%. The bigger problem is the lack of shot volume. Last season Dubinsky averaged 2.11 shots per game, this year he's way down to 1.37. His Corsi at 5 on 5 is below 50% for the first time in three seasons. It’s really hard to score when you’re not getting pucks on net and that appears to be Dubinsky’s biggest problem this season.
To cap off the scoring Lukas Sedlak scored one of the more impressive goals of the season.
He carries the puck into the zone and makes a nice drop pass to Sam Gagner. Gagner’s shot hits Ward’s glove and Sedlak who was crashing the net, from one knee is able to bat the rebound in for his fifth goal of the season. This was a great play overall by Sedlak. To have the awareness to make the initial drop pass, to then go right to the net. Plus the hand-eye and concentration to hit the puck off the bounce and be able to get on net at all let alone score was extremely impressive.
Stat of the Night
Stats courtesy of
Natural Stat Trick and
Hockey-Reference.
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