Final Score: Predators 0 – Blue Jackets 4
Game Summary
That wasn’t the best played game, the Jackets were outshot 39-18 but considering the circumstances the Jackets have to be thrilled with how it went. They scored two goals early and those turned out to be huge looking back. This was not only the second half of a back to back, but the Blue Jackets lost both Fedor Tyutin and Cody Goloubef in the first period with injuries. Neither one was able to return.
Tyuitn suffered an upper body injury and that is all we know as of now. Goloubef was hurt as he took a shot off the face and had to go to the hospital. He has suffered a broken jaw, his timetable is undetermined at this point, but he will miss time.
Prior to the game David Savard had his major penalty from last night rescinded by the league. Essentially that means it’s off his record and Savard will avoid a suspension (which are usually automatic with a major penalty).
The Blue Jackets also sent down Michael Chaput to Lake Erie.
The fourth line of Gregory Campbell, Kerby Rychel and Josh Anderson opened the scoring. A nice individual effort by Rychel to control the puck along the boards before Anderson was able to pull it out, get the puck back to Rychel who made a great pass to Campbell out front who buried it. This is what happens when you have a skilled fourth line. They can add secondary scoring like this.
Ryan Johansen scored the second goal, displaying some ridiculous patience to wait out Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne and score on the open net. Joey also picked up an assist on the third goal scored by Boone Jenner. For Jenner, that is his tenth goal of the season, surpassing his total from last year, in 11 fewer games.
Those early goals were huge for the Blue Jackets as they had to play short-handed with the losses of Tyutin and Goloubef. It allowed the forwards to focus more on being back and doing what they could to help the defencemen. They didn’t need to focus as much on scoring.
For the defencemen they really had to battle. Every second shift they were going, they had very little time to catch their breath. They deserve a ton of credit for how they played. They did a heck of job. They did well at playing their position without wasting a lot of energy. You didn’t see any pinching and guys joining the rush as they couldn’t afford to burn that extra energy. Especially since the team had the lead it did.
The Blue Jackets were very fortunate that Bobrovsky played the best game of his season. He stopped all 39 shots for his first shutout of the year. He made some huge saves but none were bigger than this one on James Neal;
Bobrovsky robs James Neal pic.twitter.com/YYBbgUv7bl
— Stephanie (@myregularface) November 21, 2015With the defencemen injuries, someone is going to be called up. Looking at the Lake Erie roster they do have some interesting options to bring up. If the team wants to reward the guy whose playing the best than it would be Andrew Bodnarchuk who currently leads the Monsters blue line with seven points. If they want NHL experience then Justin Falk should get the call as he's a veteran of 147 NHL games. If they want upside then I’d imagine Michael Paliotta would be the guy. The 22 year old came over in the Brandon Saad trade and thus far has five points in 11 games. I'm not sure what the team is going to do, personally I would go with Paliotta for the upside and the fact that he won’t need waivers to be sent back down.
The Jackets have a much needed day off tomorrow before taking on the San Jose Sharks on Sunday.
Stat of the Night
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