Final Score: Coyotes 5 – Blue Jackets 7
Game Summary
That was a wild game. The Blue Jackets missing their top centre, goalie and defensive pair went out and managed to score seven goals. The Coyotes were also short-handed missing starting goalie Mike Smith and young up and coming sniper Anthony Duclair.
A game started by two back-up goalies went as one would have expected. Despite the goal scoring outburst neither team played particularly well. The Jackets scored seven goals but managed just 21 shots. Shooting 33.3% as a team should not happen. Both starting goalies played poorly. Curtis McEhlinney picked up his first win of the season despite his .844 save percentage.
A real scary moment for McEhlinney happened late in the third. Max Domi came in on a mini break, Mac came out of his crease and the two collided. Mac’s helmet came off and his head hit the ice. The trainer came out had a discussion with Mac, he changed his mask and that was it. I was shocked to see him stay in the game. It looked really bad and I thought at the very least he should head to the quiet room and be examined for a concussion.
Here’s the hit.
another look pic.twitter.com/oVlr8mXaDk
— Stephanie (@myregularface) December 18, 2015Side note from that play; holy crap Max Domi! You can’t see it in the gif but he made Ryan Murray look silly on that play. Domi is going to be a star very soon if he isn’t one already.
Jack Johnson and David Savard were both forced to miss the game with injuries. Johnson has an upper body injury and Savard a lower body injury. Those two log a ton of ice time, whether they warrant it is another story, which had to be replaced. Ryan Murray and Fedor Tyutin played 28:57 and 27:31 respectively, both season highs.
Ryan Johansen was a healthy scratch. I'm not going to rant about the move here. I made my thoughts very clear this morning on the subject.
In the absence of Johansen, Alexander Wennberg was slotted into that top centre role alongside Brandon Saad and Scott Hartnell. He immediately took advantage setting up Saad less than a minute into the game. He later added a goal, his second of the season. He also picked up another helper on Brandon Dubinsky’s empty net goal. For Wennberg that is his second three point night in the last five games. He now has 10 points in his last seven, after starting the season with one point in 15. I would love to see him continue to play with Saad and Harntell, those three looked to have some chemistry together, and they could be a good go to line for John Tortorella.
You know it’s a wacky game when David Clarkson is scoring. He was going hard to the net as he does and Hartnell found him with a good pass. This was what I was expecting to see out of Clarkson. If he's healthy and able to use his big body to get to those scoring areas, there is enough passing talent on the Jackets to get him the puck. He's never going to be the guy he was in New Jersey but if he could somehow get in that 8-10 goal range most people I think would be happy with it.
Future All-Star captain John Scott made his presence felt in the only way he knows how. He and Jared Boll got into a fight in the second period. Scott didn’t look like he wanted to fight, before realizing that he's John Scott and this is what he's there for. It’s going to be fascinating to follow the all-star voting to see if Scott does indeed end up with the most votes.
Stat of the Night
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