Final Score: Stars 5 – Blue Jackets 1
Game Summary
I never would have guessed that starting a rookie goalie in his second career start in a back-to-back, on the road against the league’s best offence would be a recipe for disaster. But here we are. The Jackets were heavily outplayed as the Stars crushed them 5-1.
I'm not going to fault Joonas Korpisalo even though he let in four goals. He wasn’t put into a position to succeed. Dallas has been tough on every goalie this year; let alone a rookie on the second half of a back to back. Korpisalo didn’t finish the game as Curtis McEhlinney played the third period.
The Jackets actually had a really strong start to the game. They controlled the play out shooting the Stars 16-8 and out chancing them 14-7. In the second though, it was a totally different story. Dallas woke up and in typical Dallas fashion exploded offensively and scored three goals. It was the result of a great period for Dallas who completely erased their shot deficit, firing 19 shots. The third period was fairly even but by that point the game was long over.
The team/coaches were not happy with their performance (obviously) and they had an extended closed door meeting after the game. I can only imagine how that went.
The big story to come out of the game was that Ryan Johansen only played 11:03, lowest on the team. This of course led to a storm of people calling Joey lazy and how he should be benched. This is nothing new; whenever Joey struggles it’s the same old nonsense. Joey did in fact struggle in this game; he had no shots or scoring chances. But for someone to suggest they would rather have Gregory Campbell than Johansen is insane.
Campbell played well he had 4 shots and was second on the team with four scoring chances. The funny thing about this is it took Joey’s worst game and Campbell’s best game to get these two into the same conversation. Joey averages 1.6 shots and 1.7 scoring chances a game at even strength. Campbell averages 0.64 shots 0.82 scoring chances. Johansen has also had eight games of four or more scoring chances. Campbell? This was his first. This doesn’t even take into account what Johansen does on the power play, where he is one of the best in the league.
For a deeper look at Johansen’s season I would recommend reading this post:
And sharing again, Johansen is *this season* scoring at a 1st line rate (total, per time on ice, per game): https://t.co/ZqNsTT2xmT #CBJ
— Matt (@zekebud) December 16, 2015Stat of the Night
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