Post Battle #33 vs. the Boston Bruins (Blue Jackets)

Blue Jackets

Post Battle #33 vs. the Boston Bruins

By Paul Berthelot

Dec 28, 2016 • 5:51 am

0comment-bubble

Final Score: Blue Jackets 4 – Bruins 3

Game Summary

The Blue Jackets did it; they finally defeated the Boston Bruins for the first time this season. Boston has had the Jackets number to this point handing them two of their five regulation losses. It wasn’t pretty but the Jackets defeated the Bruins 4-3 to win their 13th game in a row.

The Jackets came out in this game flying. For the first 10 minutes of the game they were all over Boston. The Bruins looked like they had a long rest and were shaking the rust off. The Jackets scored three times in the first 10 minutes of the game. The first one by Scott Hartnell.

Lukas Sedlak makes a great play at the line to keep the puck in, and get it on net. Sedlak has played well this season and it’s been fascinating to watch his progression this season. He is a player I did not have high hopes for, but he's come in and fit perfectly on the fourth line. He fits right into what the Blue Jackets want in that he's a big physical player with skill. Sedlak has eight points in 31 games this season which is fine for a fourth liner. He’s been very good at 5 on 5 where he has a 53.7% Corsi, second on the team behind Brandon Saad.

Hartnell who’s been on fire recently was not done there. He set up the second goal, scored by Seth Jones, on a terrific feed from behind the net.

This came right at the end of a power play. The Bruins were a little bit disjointed on the play and no one picked up Jones pinching in from the point. Hartnell alertly seen Jones and puts the puck right into his wheelhouse, where Jones can blast it. Hartnell doesn’t play many minutes but has still found ways to produce offense. In fact when you account for his limited ice time he has been one of the best even strength scorers in the league. His 5 on 5 points per 60 is 3.19, third in the league behind Brandon Saad and Steven Stamkos. Those three, along with Sidney Crosby are the only players this season to play 200 minutes and average more than three points per 60 minutes.

Matt Calvert made it 3-0 shortly after with his fifth goal of the season.

After this goal the Bruins woke up and just took over the game. The completely outplayed the Jackets outshooting them 40-22. At 5 on 5 it was just as bad if not worse with the Bruins running a 58.58% Corsi. The Bruins had 56.36% of the scoring chances and 65.52% of the high danger chances. The Jackets really struggled at moving the puck and getting it out of their own end.

Sergei Bobrovsky stole the Jackets yet another game. This is what he's paid to do, but the Jackets need to do a better job when they play these good teams. Of this four game stretch they played one good game, the game against Pittsburgh. Other than that they relied on their goal-tending to bail them out.

The game winning goal was scored on the power play by Nick Foligno. Alexander Wennberg gets the puck to Foligno who’s at the side of the net. He turns and fires the puck on net and just keeps hammering away until it gets past Tuuka Rask.

Picking up an assist on the play was Zach Werenski. His 22nd point of the season sets a new single season franchise record for points by a defencemen. He passes Ryan Murray who had 21 points in 66 games his rookie year in 2013-14.

Stat of the Night

Stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and Hockey-Reference.

You can follow me on Twitter @PaulBerthelot

Show Comments
Loading...
Loading...
0
Show comments for this article