Final Score: Panthers 3 – Blue Jackets 2
Game Summary
That was not the most well played game of the season, that's for sure. The Jackets came out flat letting Florida get a lead and forcing the Jacket to play catch up for the rest of the night. The team played poorly but managed to keep it close, losing 3-2.
The first period was an unmitigated disaster. The Jackets were outshot 19-1 in the first. 19-1! The Panthers scored two goals, but it could have been much worse. Curtis McEhlinney who received the start over Joonas Korpisalo, made some key saves to keep the game from getting out of hand. He made some big saves particularly on the five on three.
Despite being outshot heavily, the Jackets managed to keep it close. Brandon Saad opened the scoring for the team with a flukey goal from the goal line. He just threw it on net and it found a hole. Cam Atkinson scored the second off a great pass from Alexander Wennberg. For Wennberg that is his 12th point over his last 11 games. He has been excellent. The penalty kill was also excellent. The Jackets managed to take six penalties and killed off each one. Mac deserves a ton of credit for that. He stopped all 14 of the Panthers power play shots, many of which were high quality.
With the team trailing by one late in the third John Tortorella decided (again) to not use his best offensive weapon Ryan Johansen. This is getting tiresome. Very frustrating to see Joey on the bench. My thoughts on the whole thing haven’t changed since I wrote about it recently.
This game really felt like the breaking point for a lot of people in the media. Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) was calling out management and Travis Yost (@travisyost) was “yosting… them hard. This season has become much more than just a bad stretch; this roster has some major holes. This season has provided a learning experience on roster construction and what not to do.
It’s very clear the defence is a big issue. You need to have defencemen who can get the puck up to the forwards. This forward group is fine but they need help. It’s not just Columbus either. Look at Pittsburgh and Colorado as examples. Great forward groups but completely undone by a lack of quality defencemen. Having one guy like a Ryan Murray, doesn’t mask the issues either. Pittsburgh has Kris Letang and Colorado has Tyson Barrie. You need more than just one or two good defencemen.
Of the six defencemen who played tonight, three of them (Justin Falk, Dalton Prout, Kevin Connauton) are nothing more than seventh defencemen. There fine to step in for a game or two but are out of place as NHL regulars. Yes the team is injured but even when everyone was healthy the unit wasn’t good. Any defensive unit that plays Jack Johnson 25 minutes a night is going to struggle. He does more harm than good when he's on the ice. He has not succeeded as a top pair and should be playing further down in the lineup.
On the bright side Zach Werenski, Sonny Milano and Team USA will be taking on Gabriel Carlsson and Team Sweden tomorrow at the World Juniors. The future is bright.
Stat of the Night
Stats courtesy of HockeyStats.ca and War On Ice.
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