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G20- Music City; PLUS Holiday Weekend Recap Plus Blues Domination

November 30, 2021, 1:01 AM ET [1 Comments]
Zak MacMillan
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Starting off here on this early crisp Cyber Monday holiday...

Fans! We are a quarter of the way through the season already. If you’re looking for more content aside the almost daily blog follow me on Twitter @ZakMacBuzz for all the latest from me.

Also...

Working on the wrap up blogs as well as quarter season thoughts for the team and the league regarding the past present and future.

Now onto the fun stuff.

Let us start with the fun being the retired Brandon Dubinsky comments on the state of the team’s status so far.

The alternate captain had his career cut short by injuries, but his leadership and character have never left the sport or the city. Dubi came over from the Rangers in the Rick Nash blockbuster in the summer of 2012.

Dubinsky played a vital role in helping parts of the Blue Jackets’ early playoff battles with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and being a mouthpiece for former coach John Tortorella, who he served time with in both New York and Columbus.

Over the weekend, Dubinsky poked fun at Tortorella while cheering on the boys in central Ohio. In a now deleted post, his quote was:

“@BlueJacketsNHL having fun! Team is 6-12 not 12-6 with John Tortorella behind the bench. Players could lie to media and say otherwise but you can feel it.
- STH and new member of the 5th line!”




Thus brings up some excellent points, but also a few questions about the team and Torts himself.

The team is having fun, being they are the youngest team in the league, even with all the scenery moves from this past summer. The retooling is in full effect. The team looks faster with the kids on offense and defense finding their game in front of Elvis.

Players and media have always had a fascinating relationship in all pro sports. In a smaller market team like Columbus, there is more room for the roster to be themselves with the press, and not have every game go down their necks with pressure.

Also a fun quote for Dubinsky to still show he is a fan and supporter of the team, not as many outwardly public alumni away from the team aside the former players that work for the team. Sure have to think that Mike Sillinger and Tie Domi have to be floating around somewhere rooting their kids on as well.

The poke at Tortorella may come off as a surprised to some as his message and commands run thin on the roster over time, and it looks like Dubinsky is shedding some light on that based off the early season results thus far in the Ohio capitol. The core of Jenner, Bjorkstrand, Werenski, and Laine have all been under Torts for enough time to learn and deal with the structure.

The core has been lighting it up as well since his departure, as Bjorkstrand leads in points; Jenner in goals; and Werenski in ice time. Also, Merzlikins has been on fire to start the season.

ESPN may be network television early this week if Torts sounds off on the message from Dubinsky.

Recap in the Lou

The Blue Jackets were unsuccessful in their back to back in Missouri, being doubled down by the Blues in a 6-3 stomping. They are now 0-2 in the sequence in back to back night games, and only winning once in the four games, being against the spiraling Canucks.

The Blue Jackets opened the scoring with the captain’s 10th goal of the season coming off a tip on the power play. Defensemen Zach Werenski and Adam Boqvist had the assists. And that was the only goal in the first period.

St. Louis came through with 3 goals in the second period. Pavel Buchnevich got his 7th of the season in less than a minute into the frame with help from fellow Russian Vladimir Tarasenko. 58 seconds later, Ivan Barbashev got his 6th of the year off a deflection; Buchnevich and Oskar Sundqvist had the helpers. Jordan Kyrou added his team leading 9th goal of the season late in the frame with the support of Ryan O’Reilly.

Adam Boqvist got Columbus on the board early in the third for his third of the season, and this one came off the power play. Jakub Voracek and Oliver Bjorkstrand added to their season production with the apples.

Once again, the Blues scored another series of 3 goals in a period on the Blue Jackets. Defenseman Justin Faulk netted his 4th of the season with assists from Robert Thomas and Tarasenko. Tarasenko added another assist to his night off Buchnevich’s second of the game and 8th of the year; Thomas also added an assist. Barbashev added his second of the game and 7th of the season with help from ex Jacket Brandon Saad. The other assist came from defender Colton Parayko.

Boqvist closed the scoring for the Jackets and in the game with his second of the game and 4th of the season. Alex Texier and Jake Bean got the helpers.

This game was all about scoring, and the two guys I picked out were just that lethal. For the Blues, Pavel Buchnevich had 2 goals and an assist on the evening, putting him at 4 goals and 2 assists in his last three games. The Russian power forward was on fire for the Blues, and its making this trade look better and better since the summer. As for Adam Boqvist, he also produced 2 goals and an assist for 3 points in the game, and has 3 goals and 2 assists in his last 3 games as a Blue Jacket.

The goaltending was tough to watch between the Finnish goalies of Ville Husso and Joonas Korpisalo. Husso stopped 24 of 27 for a 0.889 save percentage; Korpisalo stopped 27 of 33 for a 0.818 save percentage. Rough night in the crease all around.


CBJ Three Stars Of The Game

1. Adam Boqvist— 2G (4), 1A (2), EVEN

2. Boone Jenner— PPG (10), EVEN

3. Jake Bean— assist (5), EVEN



Previewing the Predators

On Tuesday night, the Blue Jackets close out their final game of November in the Music City against the Nashville Predators, in the midst of the 2nd game of 4 on the road away from home.

Both teams are probably having the quietest strong starts around the league, with the Predators selling off at deadline, but former Blue Jacket Matt Duchene returning to form with 13 goals in 21 games, and Mikael Granlund with 21 points in 21 games. Their biggest change was the retirement of Pekka Rinne, and committing to Jusse Saros as the new starting goaltender. Their biggest loss was Ryan Ellis, trading the heavy hitter and shooter to the Flyers to get younger adds in defender Phillipe Myers and center Cody Glass from Vegas in the three team deal over the summer.

After losing 6-2 to Colorado, the Predators are looking to get back into the winning column, where Columbus is coming off their 6-3 loss to the Blues.


Projected Lineups


Nashville Predators

Fillip Forsberg—Mikael Granlund—Matt Duchene
Eeli Tolvanen—Ryan Johansen—Luke Kunin
Yakov Trenin—Colton Sissons—Tanner Jeannot
Nick Cousins—Thomas Novak—Philip Tomasino

Roman Josi—Dante Fabbro
Mattais Ekholm—Alexandre Carrier
Mark Borowiecki—Matthew Benning

Jusse Saros
David Rittich


Columbus Blue Jackets

Gustav Nyquist—Boone Jenner—Oliver Bjorkstrand
Yegor Chinakov—Cole Sillinger—Jakub Voracek
Gregory Hoffman—Jack Roslovic—Max Domi
Eric Robinson— Sean Kuraly—Alexandre Texier

Zach Werenski—Jake Bean
Vladislav Gavrikov—Andrew Peeke
Gavin Bayreuther—Adam Boqvist

Elvis Merzlikins
Joonas Korpisalo

Scratched— Justin Danforth, Gabriel Carlsson, Scott Harrington

Injured— Patrik Laine, Dean Kukan, Emil Bemstrom, Nate Gerbe

Players to Watch

Nashville— Matt Duchene — the ex Blue Jacket is in a prove it year before he could be bought out of his $64 million dollar contract from Nashville. Being one of the few players to publicly show interest and desire to play there, he has brought his fire back and is helping push the Predators through the first quarter of the season. His goal scoring will be key to a victory.


Columbus— Jake Bean — the young defense is figuring itself out quicker than most thought, and Bean has 3 assists in his last 5 games. His speed and puck movement with Werenski is key to shutting down the top offensive units around the league and to help the Columbus offense rush the puck. His production needs to continue for this team to add more wins early.


Keys to Victory

1. Familiar Faces. Having Ryan Johansen and Matt Duchene for years still leaves memories behind for ex-Jackets players in Jakub Voracek and Boone Jenner, being teammates of the power forward before the Jones swap, and the core remembering Duchene during the franchise’s first ever playoff series victory still sits with them and how to shut them down will be key as both are going through strong starts to begin the season.

2. Discipline. The Predators have a 25% power play success rate, putting them at 6th overall in the league. For the young kids on the road, staying out of the box will be important to not give them a chance of scoring.

3. Defensive Monsters. Even though the backend is not the same as it has been, their defense is still being led by Roman Josi and Mattais Ekholm, who are solid veteran leaders with playoff pedigree. Their defensive muscle will need to be pushed for the Union Blue to succeed.


Final Prediction:

Being the first meeting of the season since the 2020 Central Division and the strong starts from both teams, my prediction is 4-3 OT for the Predators, coming from Mikael Granlund, a player that was almost a Blue Jacket last summer, but was almost a Maple Leaf during the COVID season.


Thoughts? More to come...

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