Final Score: Senators 5 – Blue Jackets 4
Game Summary
For the second game in a row the Jackets failed to hold a two goal lead. They held a three one lead in the second period, but some sloppy defensive plays and an off-night from Sergei Bobrovsky, gave Ottawa some chances and they converted on them.
This was a rare game in which Bobrovsky didn’t have it. He was fine in the first period; the second period however was a whole other story. Goalies deal with deflections off of sticks all the time, but it’s not normally their own stick. I’ve seen the replay multiple times and I still don’t understand what happened. Bobrovsky is really casual with his stick, he doesn’t look like he wants to play the puck, yet he somehow ends up deflecting the puck into the net. A goal like that hurts, but the Jackets still had a one goal lead at the time.
The goal gave Ottawa some life and shortly after, Matt Duchene came in on a breakaway and scored to tie it. We’ve seen Bobrovksy make saves on chances like this before, but Duchene made a great fake and got Bobrovsky to bite. The problem with that goal was Duchene never should have been on a breakaway in the first place. Jack Johnson was trying to join the rush, but he ends up turning the puck over at the blue line. He then can’t break up the breakout pass, and no one was covering back for him and you have Duchene in on a breakaway.
Johnson was on the third defensive pair with Scott Harrington and they were to say the least, not great.
#CBJ D pairs last night vs OTT:
— Jeremy Crowe (@307x) December 30, 2017
Jones/Werenski
14:58 TOI, 51.6% CF, 47.8% scoring chances for
Nutivaara/Savard
12:15 TOI, 56.3% CF, 76.0% scoring chances for
Johnson/Harrington
13:09 TOI, 25.5% CF, 27.3% scoring chances for
Perhaps we've found the weak link.
The Jackets need to get that third d-pair sorted out because right now it’s not working. Harrington has been playing too much, and the alternative, Gabriel Carlsson hasn’t been very good when he's been in there. It might be time to try out Dean Kukan and see what he can do.
There were some positives from this game, Sonny Milano in particular. Milano was challenged to step up and that’s what he's done. He scored twice, giving him three in the last two games.
Some great hand-eye coordination here by Milano, after Nutivaara banks a bouncing puck off the end boards. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/xTm2PybZX4
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) December 30, 2017
On his first goal, he’s in the right place at the right time to put home the Markus Nutivaara shot that deflected off the end boards. It was quite similar to the goal he scored against the Penguins. His second goal he shows off some of his skill.
Blink and you might miss this absurdly quick release from Sonny Milano. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/mCpkFhVsX3
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) December 30, 2017
This is such a good release. He snaps it right over the glove of Mike Condon. Milano looks really good right now, much like he did at the start of the season. Hopefully he can be a bit more consistent and keep this good play going.
Now it would be a Jackets game without some scoring from the PB&J line. This game saw Josh Anderson score, set up by Panarin.
Incredible play here by Panarin to set up Anderson's goal.
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) December 30, 2017
Steals, dangles, creates space. Lets 77 do the rest. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/vhBpr77i6d
This line was buzzing all night. Panarin rung one off the cross bar, and Anderson had another chance that he too put off the post. With a couple bounces this could have been a much different game.
The other bright spot from this game was the return of Zach Werenski. Werenski missed the last four games, and his loss was felt. The Jackets picked up points in all four of the games but they were outplayed in many of those games. Getting your top defencemen back will be a big help with that. The Jackets didn’t have a strong possession game; they had just a 43.33% Corsi. It would have been much worse if Werenski was out. He had a 51.35% Corsi, one of just five Jackets to be over 50%. Werenski also chipped in offensively scoring a late goal.
Stat of the Night
#CBJ D Zach Werenski is back tonight vs. #Sens. In four games without ‘Z’, Seth Jones had 2-3-5, eight shots on goal, and a plus-2 rating. He averaged a whopping 27:33 per game in that span.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) December 29, 2017
Stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and Hockey-Reference.
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